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.
3 comments:
Wow. That was a helpful explanation. Now I understand what you have been doing at Holly Hill for the first time. Ha.
Your reflection and insights were interesting! I always feel like people don't really understand what their friends and family do on a day-to-day basis, which is something that's unique about co-worker and colleague relationships. I think it's definitely how people develop "work-spouses" -- those BFFs in the work place who you can talk to all day long, or chat with on IM, about all the banal and mundane and absurd and exciting and stressful tedium of the day. What's been interesting with the development of facebook status and twitter is that IM has catapulted to a new level, so people can still comment on stuff going on during their day-to-day -- and bring the rest of the world into their work sphere.
But for all the people who don't have access to those things, what we do all day remains a mystery to many. In hospitals and schools, and for me, too, while working on my writing and other projects from home, there just isn't that sort of system in place to share the day to day goings-on with anyone... so I find it especially interesting to hear what everyone else does all day. And I appreciate your sharing it!
As you close this chapter and begin to write a new one, I'm excited to read how your perspectives change. Are you very much done with the "professional" part of your life do you think? I'm happy for the excitement this new role will bring, and excited to see how your happiness evolves :)
Heh. And now you just use Holly Hill Hospital to complain to us when you're frustrated LOL
Post a Comment