Do you ever feel like no matter what you do, you are the enemy to your residents? You provide help. You provide resources. You listen. What else can you do, right? You have to remember that there their anger and disappointment goes beyond you.
Many residents are living in housing due to bad circumstances. Maybe they can’t afford to live elsewhere. Maybe they are recovering addicts. Maybe they don’t have any other family or friends, or they are disabled and cannot work. You never really know why someone ends up in housing authority unless you have a conversation with them. So don’t be so quick to get angry or judge.
When you have a lot of traumatic things happen to you or you feel like you have been knocked down as far as you can go, it’s easy to get upset and point the fingers at others. When you feel like there is nothing left to live for because you lost everything, of course you are going to have a hot temper.
Here are a few more things that you may be frustrated with:
people paying rent late or them not being responsive, them not doing things on time or not showing up to your events or functions you host for them. Just remember, most of these people wake up each day just trying to make it. They are focused on how they are going to pay their rent or put food on their kid’s table. Sometimes as nice as it is for you to do things for them, what is important to you that day may not be top priority for them.
Another thing to keep in mind is that they are usually under high levels of stress all of the time. Being under constant mental stress eventually begins to weigh you down physically as well. So any given day when you talk to a resident that seems to be off, nonchalant, or unmotivated. Just understand that is could be the stress taking a toll on their mind and bodies. They could be feeling hopeless which will definitely kill drive and motivation. So it might not be that they just don’t care or are not receptive to what you are saying to them.
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America and CDC, 8.7% of people who have incomes below the poverty level report severe psychological distress. Also, poverty can lead to high stress and major physiologic responses, such as high blood pressure and high cortisol levels. With prolonged exposure to poverty, these responses turn into disruptions in brain functioning, which ultimately lead to both long-term physical and mental health consequences.
So next time you feel like you are at your wits end with a resident you are working with. Just remember what may be going on with them mentally, emotionally, and physically. And remember that just because they seem to be going off on you, there is really a lot of other underlying things they are mad at that don’t have anything to do with you. Have patience, be kind, and do the best you can to help them each day. That’s what we’re here for!
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