(no subject)
A lot's been going on lately and I really haven't written in here just because i haven't felt like it...no particular reason.
Most of the last 2 weeks have been spent at the Bradley Center. First I had a week and a half of training which included first aid and cpr certification, therapeutic crisis intervention(tci) training, and some other "dealing with crazy kids" type of training. We only spent a couple hours on our very last day of training actually observing the unit we would be working on and getting a first hand view of what we were actually going to be doing. Then they just set us out into the insane world of residential treatment facilities. The unit that I'm on is called Eagles (no clue who came up with the different names). It is basically the lower-functioning boys unit. The kids range in age from 13 to 15 and the average IQ on the unit is about 63. However my first shift did not even take place on my own unit. I was supposed to come in Saturday at 1:30pm but I got a call Friday afternoon on the way home from Niagara Falls (more about that trip later) that one of the other units desperately needed someone to come in saturday morning for a kid that was on suicide watch. Of course since I'm a brand new employee I felt bad saying no so I said I'd do it. So I show up at 7am saturday and watch this kid for most of the morning. It was so boring because when a kid's on suicide watch he's on something called special constant observation (SCO) which basically means he is not allowed out of his room except to go to the bathroom, he needs to have one on one supervision all the time, and he must have everything taken out of his room except for his bed and like books or things made of paper. Also the kid was pretty quiet and spent most of the time in his doorway drawing. He made a pretty cool poster of my name though so that was fun. However, the part that pissed me off was when the shift superviser called me down and told me that since I was brand new and had not even worked a regular shift yet he did not want me doing SCO and that I should just hang out on the unit until my regular shift started that afternoon. I was pissed because I totally could have slept in. The supervisors really should learn to communicate with each other.
Anyways...so I ended up working a double on Saturday and then 7-3 Sunday. This was all on top of having a pretty severe cold and mild fever. I can't say it was that bad though. Let's just say the kids on my unit are quite special....in the riding the short bus type of way. Makes for a lot of funny/odd/insane times. They're also really bad and since I'm on a boys unit they can tend to be disrespectful to female staff and only listen to male staff...but whatever. Today was my only day off until next sunday and I still had to go up to campus for a staff meeting. Well we'll see how things go. Hopefully I'll be able to tough it out there for a while.
In other news...Me and Uri went to Niagara Falls last week. We left Wed. night, spent the night in Erie because I was really tired and didn't feel like driving any more, spent Thursday in Niagara, had an AWESOME hotel room with a PERFECT view of the falls, then drove home Friday. On Thursday we did all the touristy things around the Falls. First from the American Side we did this little tour where you can walk down to the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls and practically stand right in front of them. They give you ponchos and sandals because you definitely get wet. Then we took this trolley ride around Niagara State Park and spent some time walking along the Three Sisters Island. Then we went on the Maid of the Mist boat ride that takes you down the river to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls (the really big ones that are the most famous). After that fun we crossed into Canada and checked into our hotel. Thursday night we went down to Cliffton Hill which is kinda the downtown area of Niagara in Ontario. We went to a couple casinos where I proceeded to lose in blackjack and then we ate dinner at some Italian place. Friday we made some pitt stops at other places before heading back to the burgh. We drove up to this little town called Niagara on the Lake. It's about a half hour drive from the falls. It has this main street that is lined with little gift shops and cafes. I guess the closest thing I could compare it to is New Hope. Niagara also has a pretty famous wine region so we stopped at a couple of wineries and did some tastings which made me feel totally sophisticated. We eventually made it back to Pittsburgh some point Friday night. Overall it was a pretty decent trip.
damn....this entry is entirely too long. I guess I've procrastinated long enough....off to the gym.
Most of the last 2 weeks have been spent at the Bradley Center. First I had a week and a half of training which included first aid and cpr certification, therapeutic crisis intervention(tci) training, and some other "dealing with crazy kids" type of training. We only spent a couple hours on our very last day of training actually observing the unit we would be working on and getting a first hand view of what we were actually going to be doing. Then they just set us out into the insane world of residential treatment facilities. The unit that I'm on is called Eagles (no clue who came up with the different names). It is basically the lower-functioning boys unit. The kids range in age from 13 to 15 and the average IQ on the unit is about 63. However my first shift did not even take place on my own unit. I was supposed to come in Saturday at 1:30pm but I got a call Friday afternoon on the way home from Niagara Falls (more about that trip later) that one of the other units desperately needed someone to come in saturday morning for a kid that was on suicide watch. Of course since I'm a brand new employee I felt bad saying no so I said I'd do it. So I show up at 7am saturday and watch this kid for most of the morning. It was so boring because when a kid's on suicide watch he's on something called special constant observation (SCO) which basically means he is not allowed out of his room except to go to the bathroom, he needs to have one on one supervision all the time, and he must have everything taken out of his room except for his bed and like books or things made of paper. Also the kid was pretty quiet and spent most of the time in his doorway drawing. He made a pretty cool poster of my name though so that was fun. However, the part that pissed me off was when the shift superviser called me down and told me that since I was brand new and had not even worked a regular shift yet he did not want me doing SCO and that I should just hang out on the unit until my regular shift started that afternoon. I was pissed because I totally could have slept in. The supervisors really should learn to communicate with each other.
Anyways...so I ended up working a double on Saturday and then 7-3 Sunday. This was all on top of having a pretty severe cold and mild fever. I can't say it was that bad though. Let's just say the kids on my unit are quite special....in the riding the short bus type of way. Makes for a lot of funny/odd/insane times. They're also really bad and since I'm on a boys unit they can tend to be disrespectful to female staff and only listen to male staff...but whatever. Today was my only day off until next sunday and I still had to go up to campus for a staff meeting. Well we'll see how things go. Hopefully I'll be able to tough it out there for a while.
In other news...Me and Uri went to Niagara Falls last week. We left Wed. night, spent the night in Erie because I was really tired and didn't feel like driving any more, spent Thursday in Niagara, had an AWESOME hotel room with a PERFECT view of the falls, then drove home Friday. On Thursday we did all the touristy things around the Falls. First from the American Side we did this little tour where you can walk down to the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls and practically stand right in front of them. They give you ponchos and sandals because you definitely get wet. Then we took this trolley ride around Niagara State Park and spent some time walking along the Three Sisters Island. Then we went on the Maid of the Mist boat ride that takes you down the river to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls (the really big ones that are the most famous). After that fun we crossed into Canada and checked into our hotel. Thursday night we went down to Cliffton Hill which is kinda the downtown area of Niagara in Ontario. We went to a couple casinos where I proceeded to lose in blackjack and then we ate dinner at some Italian place. Friday we made some pitt stops at other places before heading back to the burgh. We drove up to this little town called Niagara on the Lake. It's about a half hour drive from the falls. It has this main street that is lined with little gift shops and cafes. I guess the closest thing I could compare it to is New Hope. Niagara also has a pretty famous wine region so we stopped at a couple of wineries and did some tastings which made me feel totally sophisticated. We eventually made it back to Pittsburgh some point Friday night. Overall it was a pretty decent trip.
damn....this entry is entirely too long. I guess I've procrastinated long enough....off to the gym.