Today was the first of I'm sure MANY exhausting days. At this point, my eyes feel like they're about to burn out of my head. Wednesdays are always going to be bad I'm sure because I'm coming off of two 12 hour days (Monday and Tuesday) between school and work. Not to mention the reading that I have to do for my ethics class.
Today was sort of a freak day on the unit. Usually we have 1-2 new admits a day. Last night, their were 8 new admits on the unit. When an adolescent first enters the unit, they usually don't talk much. They'll open up more on the second day there. Today we had to work with 8 new patients. None of them would talk in group and I felt like I was pulling teeth. The majority of them either thought that they didn't belong there (don't they all) or didn't want to talk about what got them in there (usually suicidal or homicidal tendencies). It's very frustrating. It's not so bad when you have 1 or 2 who don't want to talk, but a larger group makes it a little tougher. I know that it's got to be hard for these kids though. I would hate to be in their shoes. You're pretty much at an all time low in your life and now you have some jackass counselor telling you that you have to talk about what just happened less than 8 hours ago usually.
I've also become more of a fan of medication since I started working with adol. and children. I should say, I'm a fan of meds if they're given to treat a problem that actually exists. It's amazing what can happen to these kids once they're put on meds. All of sudden (a few days into the stay) they'll start talking a little more, start talking to other kids on the unit, actually smile and joke occasionally...and that's before the meds have even kicked in all the way (can take up to 6 weeks for some meds).
I guess that's enough venting for now. Just a very long, tiring, sad, frustrating, depressing day. Add to that a few idiot parents and you have the recipe for disaster. And somehow, despite all of this, I'm still loving it over there! Feels good to see that your life's work actually led you to a place where you feel rewarded and look forward to going every morning. That, and you get cool stuff from the pharmaceutical sales reps :)
2 comments:
One of the many reasons why leading groups was never my thing, having participants who didn't participate! Its the equivalent of saying something and then hearing crickets chirping in the background when its someone else's turn to respond.
LOL...that about sums it up.
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