July 2010
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Inherent Dangers of the Job

I’m going to try really hard to keep this from being a post about how seriously bad ass I am.

Really hard.

Inherent Dangers of the Job, play on

God Save The Children

So here recently, I had to update my CPR and defense skills.

I honestly forget just how dumb people can be.  And that’s pretty bad, because I don’t necessarily consider myself the brightest crayon in the box, either.

I had the pleasure of brushing up on these skills in the presence of Dr. White, and I’ll have to ask him to supplement my memory some, but here are some of the highlights I remember:

“I’m not giving no breathing to any patient without mouth protection”

In discussion of severe choking:

“I had that happen once.. I jumped over a gate, fell down the steps, landed on the couch and couldn’t breathe.. I opened all the doors and called 911″

Talking about defensive moves:

“I haven’t had to use it once, except when I strained my back lifting suitcases”

I need Dr. Black to help me out with the rest of this.. my mind is blocking it all out. Needless to say, there was a lot of under the table text messaging.

In the words of Britney: You Drive Me Craaaazy

I wrestled with presenting this story for two reasons:

1) I have not yet written the blog post I mentioned I would be posting.

and..

2) it’s all about boundaries AGAIN!

But then I had a growth moment and realized that if you’re working child and adolescent psych and there are no boundary issues with a patient, that child might not need to be there, or you should be very, very worried. In the words of Britney: You Drive Me Craaaazy, play on

Find out what it means to me!

So one of the things I’m really excited about in starting my own business is how I won’t be forced (I know I will to some extent) to work with people for whom I have no respect. I could choose not to work with those people within private practice; I’d just be out money. Find out what it means to me!, play on

Boundaries pt. 2

So I know I just posted about boundaries, but thanks to my friendly workplace, I’ve been given more examples tell you about. Sorry I’m not changing up content. I’m going to post two separate incidences as two posts, mainly because the second one is more of a respect issue than it is a boundaries. Although, oh the webs we weave, they’re interrelated. I’m working on a fun adventure story for you from my early days as my next post; I just had to get this off of my chest. Boundaries pt. 2, play on

Music Therapy Round Table

Also, I have to give a big THANKS! to the Music Therapy Round Table and the free publicity!

If you haven’t checked out their podcast, or these awesome ladies, be sure to. They are all included in my blogroll, but in case that is challenging, here are their links!

Michelle Erfurt

Rachel Rambach

Kimberly Sena Moore

Thanks again ladies!

Boundaries

A common issue in psychiatry is boundaries. Most of our patients either have none, or over do it. Each patient is different, so there isn’t really a set of diagnoses who adhere to one extreme or the other, although there are some trends.

The kids that tend to hang out with us the longest, however, have no boundaries. These are frequently your personality disorders (and as a caveat, me, Dr. White, and Dr. Black all fear for our own personalities on a daily basis). Boundaries, play on

Changes

Kimberly, over at Music Therapy Maven, has been posting a wonderful series about starting your own private practice.  She actually managed to run this series so that it directly coincided with my plans to get the hell out of dodge.

Since beginning the planning of this endeavor, it’s made me look at this blog again and again. It’s been a short, bumpy run of it, yes, but what should I do with it? Should I strip it down to nothing and start all over proclaiming myself for who I am and have it be the blog of me the public Music Therapist? or should I shut it down entirely, start a brand new page and blog as my public face? I’m kind of hooked on being the crazy music lady. But I’m wondering how to handle this as an entrepreneur.

Any ideas?

PS. Name my private practice. I was hooked for a bit on the idea of using the word modulation, because I wanted the name to have the idea of movement (especially upward) incorporated into it. Now I think that word might just be a bit too unwieldy. If you can come up with an awesome name that makes me happy, I might just send you a bag of M&M’s. Current front runner is a facebook suggestion of Total Harmony. All names are mine until I veto :)

Diplomacy

So if there is one thing working this long in the system I have worked has taught me, it is that there are a lot of stupid people in the world. Not necessarily low IQ stupid, but just no common sense/no interpersonal skills/oblivious stupid. Through the aid of my good friends, I have learned to reign in my hostility towards these people (I am really a connoisseur of colleagues), and try to work diplomatically. Diplomacy, play on

Threats on your life

Part of working in psychiatry is the inevitable toll it will take on yourself. Transference, counter transference, not to mention all of our own defense mechanisms being thrown at us one by one. And not even beginning to touch on the truth coming from the mouths of babes on harsher tongues than our own.
The other fun part of it all is the violent patient. Patients can be violent in lots of different ways. They can be physically violent, verbally violent, sexually violent, and they can incite violence in others (I know a 12 year old who is quite good at this). I’m adding my caveat once again. I adore all of my patients, but sometimes you have to draw the line. Threats on your life, play on