Posted by wishingstar on November 1, 2006, at 15:31:51
In reply to Re: day 2... i went (v. long) » wishingstar, posted by TherapyGirl on November 1, 2006, at 7:13:06
Thank you Elaine and therapygirl.. A day later, I'm glad I went yesterday too.
Today was not so great. It's just a different experience with so many people (8-9 rather than 3-5). I think Randy is just brilliant and really gets me, but there just isnt as much time in group for each person to talk this time around. It's also the second time I've been through all the workshops, so I'm not getting as much out of it. However, aside from all that negativity, it's still good and is helping some.
I dont have as much to say about today. No major breakthroughs. A new girl came in today who has won an emmy for her acting.. isnt that amazing? Not a name I think any of you would recognize (I didnt), but how cool. Shes in a movie that is coming to the theaters in Jan. I'll definitely go see it.
One workshop in particular today was... interesting. Later in the day, the group talked to Randy about it and I think we may have gotten the woman fired. Oops. He said he had to think about whether he wants her doing groups anymore. It was really bad. It was a workshop on spirituality and wellness. This woman was a chaplain for the hospital, ordained in the Mennonite church (we have a large mennonite population around here). Within the first 10 minutes of the hour, her and another patient were arguing about an interpretation of the Bible (whether or not communion with a church family is essential). Finally I stepped in and moderated it a bit and said let's just agree to disagree, and that stopped. This woman was the therapist! She handed out a list of 50 things to do to nurture the soul or something and the list wasnt bad, but she was implying that if we just did those things, we'd all be better. We talked about psych meds and she kept implying how spirituality, etc is so much more important than meds and that if we'd just get out of bed, we'd be better off. We tried to explain to her what depression feels like (not being able to get out of bed) and she just didnt hear it. Finally, in a frustrated, almighty sort of voice she says "listen, i'm the only one here who ISNT on drugs". I was wondering if she thought we meant illegal drugs so I clarified, but no, she meant psych meds. So obviously, SHE knows all and we should just listen to her. Later on, towards the end of group as we were talking more about how hard it is to do these things she was suggesting, she said again in a similar tone, "well MY life is wonderful in case any of you were interested" and proceeded to say that she is always content and that her life is like a fairytale. It was interesting. The frustrations were definitely high. Right after that, she said she was done and had nothing left to say, and got her stuff together and left. This was only 45 min into the hour long group. Fine with me!
So in afternoon group, we all told Randy about this. He took out pen and paper and wrote down everything we said. He said he was very angry about it and didnt know if would have her back (even though shes been coming every week for awhile). He said he;d never gotten complaints before but wow... I (and the others) felt very offended and hurt by what she was saying. You'd think someone working in a mental health program like this one would at least have a little understanding and sensitivity to what we're going through.
Phew. That was the only big moment in my day. Everything else went pretty smoothly. Tomorrow I see Ginny. I cant wait.
poster:wishingstar
thread:699190
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20061026/msgs/699626.html