The conflict would occupy my obsessive mind for too long.
A patient would come into the hospital. We would have a nice talk, a good interaction....then...BOOM!!...I WOULD READ HER CHART!!!
Oh my goodness. Years and years of psychiatric issues. Hospitalizations. Medication. Failures at marriages, jobs, parenting, etc.
My initial impression was that this person was going to be fine, just needed a little tweaking. But after reading the harsh reality of her life, I felt her potential was quite limited.
When I am assigned to work with these little ones at school, they have just been released from inpatient psych treatment. My job is to help them adjust successfully to a public school.
As a lowly sub/aide, I am not allowed to read their charts. Dianosis? mystery. History? mystery. Medications? mystery.
This used to eat at me. I wanted to shake someone and shout, "On the psych units, having access to this information helped me be more effective!".
But as I was working this week with the darling 7-year-old boy, I had a marvelous, freeing epiphany.
Who cares about his diagnosis? Those are just words, and may be inaccurate. Look at Albert Einstein, who was a miserable failure in grade school.
History? Who needs it? Histories can be heart-breaking and debilitating. He and I are new together, with a fresh, clean slate that every child deserves.
He wants to be a policeman when he grows up. I told him that when he stops me for speeding, "Please have mercy and don't give your old friend a ticket."
He looked up and me, smiled, and said, "I would never give you a ticket, Mrs. Gross. I love you infinity!".
A fresh slate brings wondrous blessings to my heart, and his potential shines from his smiling face.
4 comments:
infinity!!! A love that will never end for YOU! It really speaks volumes, doesn't it? What a great posting here K!! xoxo
Awww, you give this little guy hope~bless you and him! xo
Love it, Kate. And your right - he is what he is to you - a sweet child who needs and deserves loves and the rest if history. Clean slate - I agree!!
My goodness, I can really relate to this. It use to drive me mad not to know more about the kids in the group home where I worked. But over time I have learned that labels too often reduce the possibilities of a child.
Post a Comment