Good Friday 1

Friday was amazing. Three emotional scores in a row, and I came home on a therapy high.

The first was a young man from a small town. He has been in the juvenile and now adult system since about the age of 11. He is on his B prefix at 19, and sat rigid and sad in my chair. He kept ma’aming me until I started to feel about 90 and asked him to back off it a bit. I did my orientation spiel, including the my few weak, ubt usually effective comedy lines. All I got was ma’amed. About 20 minutes into the hour I couldn’t stand it any longer.

Usually, I get the paperwork done, and then work on the engagement. But he was so sad. He had been on the unit for two days, hanging in his cube, avoiding interacting with anybody else. He had not “checked” me out, and didn’t know what to expect.

He had gone into his local mental health about six months before he caught this last bit. He needed to talk. Instead they threw some medication at him and sent him back into the street. He sold the medication, and remained isolated and full of pain. Another betrayal by the system.

He talked with me a little bit. As soon as they threw him into the County jail system, his fiancé and his mother both stopped communicating with him. He has been with the fiancé since he was 14. She is apparently now with some guy named Dave. We’ve made a beginning. I hope I can find a way to help.