Done at Holly Hill Hospital

Today was my official last day of work at Holly Hill Hospital. Matt and I decided that I would take a little time off before Abigail comes to rest and get ready. For those of you who don't know what I did, I'll explain because my job is apparently still quite a conundrum to even those who do know. According to Holly Hill Hospital, my official job title is Therapist/Social Worker/Case Manager. I guess they're a little confused as to what to call us. To best understand my role, the hospital must first be explained. HHH is a private psychiatric hospital that has 5 units: Adult acute, adult recovery/substance abuse, adolescent girls, adolescent boys, and latency (children). They also have an outpatient day program where people come from 9am-3pm for intensive therapy. To be admitted to HHH, one has to be in harm to themselves or to someone else. To put it bluntly, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, substance abuse/detox, homicidal thoughts, aggressive behavior towards others, and psychosis (hallucinations, paranoia, delusions) are the main reasons why someone is admitted. The average length of stay is about 5-10 days, or about enough time for the person to be stabilized and referred to an outpatient psychiatrist and therapist.

My job entailed running process groups and psychoeducational groups, completing psychosocial assessments, holding individual and family sessions, and case management. Since I worked part-time, I was not assigned to one particular unit, but floated around to all the units and did whatever was needed by the full-time therapists on the unit.

So as of today, all of that ended...they did keep the door open for me to come back whenever I want because they could always use the help. I might take them up on that offer a few months from now and work a morning here and there, but for now I am done. It was a great experience and I realized that I do enjoy the organized chaos of working at a psych hospital. My co-workers were awesome to work with and I will miss their dry sense of humor and ability to laugh at the ridiculous things that happened during the day. And during my time at HHH, I was also able to get my counseling license, which will allow me to do private practice stuff and be more flexible with my counseling options. All in all, my year and a half at HHH was well worth it!

I know that the last day of work is usually not that momentous of an occasion, but for me it does have some existential implications :) Transitioning into a new role has always been somewhat of a challenge for me and this role change will definitely be a huge one. I am very excited about being a mom and focusing my time and energy at home and on our family. I'm sure there will be times that I will miss working professionally, but the trade-off will be more than worth it. I'll keep you all posted on my existential process as it progresses...just kidding.

Highlights from 2008

Visit to DC - March 2008

Fellowship Raleigh retreat to the Vineyard Camp - May 2008

Trip to NYC with Matt for both our birthdays - June 2008

Finding out we are pregnant - Ultasound of her hand (see her little fingers?) and head

Mom & Dad's visit to Raleigh and our weekend trip to Topsail Beach - August 2008

Fellowship Raleigh launch at Broughton High School - September 27, 2008

Thanksgiving in Tallahassee with Matt's family - Our niece and nephews (Shelby, Trace, Drew) - November 2008

Christmas in Chicago with Kristin's family - December 2008

Nesting

Apparently pregnant women develop a more intense nesting urge as the due date approaches. I don't know about that for me...I think I've always been a bit anal about organization and having things in their place. So I guess I can chalk up my recent urge to organize to it being the beginning of 2009 (who doesn't want to start fresh?), the pregnancy thing, and my God-given anal tendencies.

This morning I woke up at 8:15 am, which is a huge deal for me because I am not usually wide awake at this time. Let alone on on Saturday morning. I proceded to put on my bathrobe, get a drink of Gatorade, then put together a closet organizer for our downstairs closet. It now looks great, by the way. Oh, and my project last week was to paint the nursery.

My lovely husband is always up and about in the morning...don't try to make him be productive after 10 pm though. He quickly put together the crib and it looks wonderful! Here is a picture of him and his helper, Jackson, as they start the construction. Yes, Matt is still in his pajamas too.

I Love Root Beer

Christmas and New Year's updates will have to wait...I have more important things to write about right now. Like how much I LOVE root beer. It is naturally caffeine free, tastes great in a freezy mug, and is the key ingredient to a good float. I bought a 2 liter on New Year's Eve and nobody that came over drank it that night. So, January 3rd is coming to a close and I just finished off the very last of the 2 liter. Yes, I drank it all by myself in three days.

And now I am afraid I am going to go through some withdrawal symptoms.