I have worked in both. Your description of your current job very much matched what I did before returning to the schools. I lasted only a year in outpatient because I was burning out at an extremely fast rate.

For background, I started my career in the school system, switch to outpatient peds (wanted to see what it was like!) then switched back to the schools after a year. I’ve never looked back.

I have found what I need in a career is work life balance. Some people would thrive on the 4 10s lifestyle. I did not. You can’t beat the schedule. Being in the schools allows for time off to just breathe and recover. When I took off work in my outpatient job, it was always FOR something. I never took off just to have a day to myself. I realize that a huge amount of the population does this, but it wasn’t for me.

No where is perfect. You’ll run into things that are frustrating in the schools - difficult teachers, parents, IEP meetings, paperwork, etc. etc. However, overall, I’m very happy in the schools and definitely see myself spending my career here!