So, the drama/craziness/intensity of working at a children's mental health clinic has officially begun, now that the summer camp is underway. We have 21 kids total in the program, all with their own, specific issues, and all of which need to be dealt with differently. It's very hard to keep these kids (or I guess any kids for that matter) focused and on task for 5 hours straight, and we need to have a very specific schedule for each day.
Last Thursday, we brought all the kids to see Mr. Popper's Penguins at a theater about a half hour away. We had to walk them on the streets and get them onto two different public buses...a much harder task than it may initially sound. We packed them all lunches and put them in their bags (which is, like all movie theaters, against the rules). But when we all finally sat down in the theater, all the kids took out their paper bag lunches and ate. They were pretty good during the movie, but with about 45 minutes left, almost as if it were scheduled, they all started figiting, putting their arms in their shirts (it was really cold), switching seats, etc. And everything went down hill from there. Long story short, I had to carry one of the kids out of the theater at the end of the movie because he tried running away and the other girl counselors couldn't deal with him. I tried talking with him and asking what was wrong, but he was too upset to verbalize his feelings. I had to hold his hand the whole way to the bus and sat with him on the buses, to make sure he didn't run away. After that, we decided (mostly the girl counselors) that he wasn't going to be capable of going on trips anymore, because he's a threat to the group and to himself. My opinion was that we try to understand what his issues are, and work with him a little before we ban him from trips on the second day of camp...but it wasn't really my place to talk.
Yesterday, his therapist was meeting with us before the camp started (we occasionally meet with all of the kids therapists to relay how they are acting in the group and to get some suggestions on how to work with them). She told me that he told her that I was the only one he likes. So when he came that day, I tried to talk to him, and he actually opened up to me about his family and his dogs, which apparently he hasn't done with anyone besides his mom. He was great for the first half of the day, and then when in line to use the XBox (why do we have an XBox in the room? I have no idea...), another kid must have pushed him, and he snapped and ran out of the room, through one of the doors, and darted down the stairs. When I finally got him back into the room, he started playing next to the fan trying to stick his fingers in. I asked why he was doing that, and he told me that he wanted to kill himself. Now, I wasn't expecting that to come from a 7-year-olds mouth, and I was pretty caught off guard.
I talked with his mother about his problems, and we're going to continue to try and help him. I also spoke with the camp supervisor and his therapist about his behaviors at the camp, and they asked if I would present his case at the treatment teams meeting that they have every Thursday (a couple therapists are asked to present interesting/notable cases at each meeting and everyone discusses them and provides suggestions).
If I had a couple hours, I'd talk about all the kids in the camp, as they all are seriously challenging and pretty disturbed. But once again, this completely has confirmed that this is what I want to be doing and these are the kinds of kids I need to be working with.
Tomorrow is the camp again. It's really great to be working hand in hand with the therapists, because they never get to see their clients outside of an office setting, so they really rely on us for important information about their behaviors. We have a couple different ideas to try and help the most challenging kids, and I'm looking forward to trying them out.
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