Don't meth up your life!

So, its Sunday night and I think to myself, I should check and see where I have to meet my preceptor tomorrow. Turns out I dont meet her at the Chalmers Hospital which is 2 blocks from my apartment, but, I meet her at the Victoria health centre which is, um...20 blocks from my apartment. A nice little change of events. I guess they wanted to help me out with an adventure. Finding the health centre in the morning, and getting there on time- challenge accepted. I actually beat my preceptor- for the win! I started off in the Detox unit, which was interesting. I was picturing Trainspotting all the way, screaming and sweating, kicking and punching...but its all pretty tame! Its all still a lot of orientation, and figuring out what is appropriate to talk about etc, its the kind of unit you tip toe around. It's a little disheartening because you can become attached to the clients and you want so much for them to reach their goals, but they are there for a week and then they are out. I think it is such a big step for them to just be there and there is only so much as OT's that we can do when we only see them for a week and then they are left on their own. And I am so curious to see how things turn out for them. I just had to say goodbye to my first client that I got on Monday and I have mixed feelings about it. He is 21 and it is his first time in for narcotics abuse and he is really shy. He was really starting to come around though and was opening up during our walk about how he is uncertain about going home today but how he really wants to get over this. I was able to talk to him about setting up a good support system when he gets home but I will be wondering about it for the rest of placement and how well he dwill do when he goes back to hanging out with the same crowd. We also just got a new girl in who is 19 and this isn't her first visit to detox, which really makes you wonder what our system is missing to support these people (I would love to do research on this Beagan!) I understand that detox is medically based to clean out the system and the best we can do is provide some education during their short trip, but I just wish there was something for them at the end. The waiting list for the methadone maintenance program is a year and half if they require that, and its the same for a councilor. So they clean up, they acquire all this information on sobriety in a supporting environment, but then they go back to drug town and are expected to stay clean.
Every other day I am in the early psychosis program, which is a great resource for people who just experienced their first psychotic episode. We definitely have some interesting cases. Most of the people in the program are our age, so you can appreciate their concerns for getting their lives back on track because so much happens for us at this age! I have gotten to see some one on one discussions but they also have a health in action program that meets biweekly that I am very excited about and weekly healthy outings because so many people experience weight gain from the meds which impacts their self-esteem at a very fragile time. Mental illness is no joke, delusional thoughts can be scary and dangerous- one back story involves attempting to saw off their own head to let the spirits out.
So many interesting cases! People who have grandeur and think the sun is giving them energy to live forever, that the radio is sending them messages, voices telling them to spread the word of god and to kill themselves...some just started having psychosis because they did too much crystal meth (and this is 2 yrs later and they are still experiencing it!) There is no cookie cutter guidebook on what to expect with psychosis, that is for sure!
So that was my first week, with minimal to nil adventures! :P But I definitely am looking forward to getting more hands on and meeting more of the clients. And I think the walk to work is shrinking my butt haha!

Of course I took pictures, because whats a blog without visuals...


This is the Chalmers Hospital, which is not where I work :)


This is the Victoria Health Centre...where I do work!


I noticed this view from my preceptors office yesterday, the red circle is the chalmers, the blue is where my apt is, and the green is one of my hills


This is what my preceptor calls Melissa's Pad, I could pretty much move in. Its where I do my private work while she does hers (temptation to nap is prevalent) Has a kitchen and 2 bathrooms, and is even equipped with food!


Me watching "Healing the addicted brain"...and yes, I almost cried...twice, plus I noticed some neuroanatomy mistakes

This is looking the other way at the health centre, thats the st john river, theres a nice trail there. The building in the centre is the emergency homeless shelter, which isnt a great location because right behind where that person is walking (around the corner) is the balcony where our detox clients have their smoke breaks (a great view for them to see people doing drugs/drinking, people they get high with, score from etc etc)




This is the smoke break balcony, man do they love their smoke breaks! Addicts are addicted to everything it appears. Everything here is locked entry and exit so I have a card I wear around my neck that says 'student' and opens the doors, so they have to buzz to come back in. They have rules about not talking to people over the railing (like I mentioned above with the homeless shelter in case they are scoring etc) and the conversations can be monitored because they arent allowed to tell "war stories" about past drug use in case it affects peoples recovery. All the doors are locked but they are all here on their own free will (you have to check yourself in) so they can decide to leave at anytime if they wish.

Time to think about learning objectives...can I get a whoop whoop?