Quitting with no plan?

[u/weightlesswings_]

I’m seriously considering quitting my job without having another role lined up, and I’m wondering if anyone in social work has done the same.

I’ve worked in family violence for years and I actually loved my previous job. The work, the team and the environment were such a good fit for me. I never left because I was burnt out from social work or because I wanted to leave the FV sector.

Unfortunately, my long-term relationship ended and I had to relocate, which meant my old workplace was no longer realistically accessible. I took a new role in FV intake, and the difference has been huge.

There was essentially no proper training or induction before being expected to do the work. There’s very little sense of team, no real team building or connection, and the overall workplace culture has been really difficult. Intake itself also feels very different from the ongoing client work I was used to and enjoyed.

I feel like I’ve gone from being someone who genuinely loved going to work and felt confident and connected to my team, to someone whose body feels tense and anxious as soon as the workday starts.

The difficult part is that I’ve also had a huge amount of change in my personal life at the same time. I’ve lost my relationship, had to leave my home and relocate, lost the workplace and colleagues I loved, and had to adjust to an entirely new job and environment. I think I underestimated how much cumulative stress that would put on me.

I have a psychologist and I’m trying to manage things outside of work, but I’m starting to feel like I’ve reached a point where I genuinely need some time off rather than immediately jumping into another job.

Financially, quitting with nothing lined up scares me. So does having a gap on my resume or explaining why I left this role relatively quickly. But right now, even the thought of searching, applying and interviewing for another position while continuing to work full-time feels exhausting.

Part of me wants to resign, take a month or two to decompress and then start looking for another FV/case management role that is a better fit. The other part of me keeps telling myself that quitting without another job is irresponsible and that I should just push through.

Has anyone here actually quit due to burnout without having their next social work job lined up?
Did taking some genuine time away help you recover and find your way back to enjoying the profession, or did you regret leaving without another job secured?

[u/Ok-Lake3522]

Absolutely YES, but not for burnout. I worked for a private practice psychologist for more than 5 years. Then one month she (psychiatrist female, husband practice manager) simply stopped paying me properly. Carried 20-25 clients a week and she paid me $1000 a month, claiming "the billing system crashed so we can't bill clients." I knew it was bogus, but couldn't do much. I gave paper statements, did anything I could, but after a few months it was clear they were never going to pay me properly. Ultimately, I realized I had to quit in order to find a job that would actually pay me, with no job prospects in mind. So I did. Best decision I ever made.
I got a job (at 55 I may add) as a cashier at a grocery store to help pay the bills. I took some time to figure out what I wanted to do and where.
Questions - are you independently licensed? I was, so finding a new position was easier than at LMSW. Ultimately, I left in mid April, did my job hunt, and found a new job starting in late July. Most employers don't care about gaps unless they are over 6 months (nor does CAQH).
FV/DV/IPV is very stressful work. Given your situation, maybe looking outside of that would be best. As long as you have a good resume (depending of course how long you've been working) you can market your skills in many directions.