What's Up Susan?

Hey there....wow....what a week I have had. I am now doing my own assesments, evaluations, diagnosis and setting up appointment for intake. It's alot, I know but I am picking things up much quicker than any of us expected. Normally in one month, one can usually say they know how a person is, what makes them tick, how they 'roll'...well, I can say I now know how most of my co-workers and superiors 'roll'. My buddy Dawn is calling it 'The New Zoo Review' and she is very dead on the money. I have never seen such a variety of personalities....very STRONG personalities..in my life.

I am the third person in a 3 counselor staff...well four if you count one dude who doesn't do regular stuff....I want so badly to go into detail but that isnt a smart thing to do...suffice it to say that I am paying my dues by being treated like a retarded, ignorant person who knows nothing and is available to be talked down to, about and my feelings are disregaded as being unimportant. Such is the life of a new employee. My goal is to learn my job as quickly as possible so I will need to have as little contact as possible with superiors. That appears to be how it works there. Everyone is doing their own thing, not interacting much unless we are in a staff meeting. I hope to reach this level soon. Being treated like an ignorant underling is good inspiration for learning as much as I can as quickly as I can.

It is my weekend and I enjoy these days off so much. I am having second thoughts about my second thoughts. I need this job. I am not going to make any life altering decisions until after I have begun to get paid. That starts on the 1st of September. Once this happens, I am sure my attitude will change. We can do all sorts of things we didnt' think possible if there is a paycheck involved, right? As it stands now, I am an indentured servant, working for free...well, not for free. I am being paid by gaining valuable knowledge of how it is to be a drug and alcohol counselor. I am being given excellent examples of how NOT to be daily.

One is not supposed to dominate their 3 hours IOP groups by talking about themselves, continously, repeatedly and endlessly. One of my co-workers does just that. These poor clients are forced to sit in a room and listen to this man go on nd on about himself, his old life, what he did to get high, how he got high, where he got high and who he got high with. It is as if he is reliving his addictive lifestyle daily. As far as I know, reliving and glamorizing those days is not a healthy way to a serene sobriety. Glamorizing the illegal and immoral aspects of our pasts is not healthy. Neither is talking about ones self for 3 hours when there are people sitting there wanting to talk, to share their experiences in getting sober. This is the whole reason for having 'Group therapy'...for them to be able to communicate with one another, giving feedback and process their issues together, leaning on one another for support, guidance, input and feedback....but to have to sit there for hour after hour, unable to get word in edgewise must be so frustrating. I cant bear it myself and I am not paying any money to be in there. If I had been forced to pay $3,000.00 for intensive outpatient therapy and was never allowed to speak, I would be taking names and numbers and taking steps to correct the situation. As it sits, these people dont' really want to be there to begin with, so not having to be put on the spot by talking about their feelings is probably just fine with them. That takes them off of the hot seat and allows them to just sit there, blending into the background while the center of the universe carries on ad lidum.....ooops I did what I said I wasn't going to do. I had better stop now.

I haven't heard from my number one fan in a few days...I hope they are doing well....(wink wink)
Talk with yall later.......