I can be choosy
Yesterday, in my journey to be a therapist, I had two firsts.
First, one of my clients had an Intermodal Transfer. I know, you say, what the hell is THAT? It is when you switch from one art modality to another naturally. We were drawing, and she said, this makes me think of a song, and then she started singing.
Which brings us to the SECOND first-
She started CRYING. In GROUP.
And me, queen of the crying people, was like OH MY GOD what do I DO?
So I got her some tissues and a glass of water.
And then she started crying AGAIN.
And so I made like comforting sounds and asked her if she had everything she needed- because remember, we were in GROUP, not in an office with a closed door- we were in the ART ROOM, which is like, imagine you went into your basement and put out a stack of construction paper. That is as much ambiance as this place has.
And this lady can't hear.
Let's call her Deaf Donna, for our storytelling purposes.
She is an "older adult". With really bad psoriais on her face. And Tardive Dyskenesia. So she is crying and the tears are making tracks through the scales of skin on her face and her tongue is thrusting and makingthese weird movements as she sobs--
And I'm like-
ME: Are you okay?
Deaf Donna: WHAT? (Still crying)
ME: Are you okay?
Deaf Donna: WHAT?
ME: Do you have everything you need?
Deaf Donna: Oh, yes, I have lots of clothes and food and everything I need.
ME: (Note to self- that was a loaded question. Don't ask that again in this context)
Deaf Donna: Are you engaged?
ME: Ummm, no, but I do have a lovely gentleman friend. (Smiles)
Deaf Donna: Well, I hope so, because you are a lovely young lady. You can afford to be choosy. Bye bye now! (Walks out door)
That totally made my day.
In other news, I made this Grand Decision that were were going to use the coffee cans that this insane lady who is a STAFF bequeathed to me and my fellow intern and I was like WOAH we are going to do marble paintings AND made drums with them! Yeah!
Then I realized that they said "Trader Joes Dark French Roast" on them and were not easily paint-over-able.
So I just spent my evening- in stages, and in between working at the group home and getting kicked AGAIN and making kids take showers and stop being bad- covering said coffee cans in construction paper with gel medium- which I have to say is an AMAZING adhesive-so that tomorrow we can bring them to art group and have the peeps make their own personal drums with them using stamps and glitter glue and paint. AFTER we use them in movement group to do marble paintings, which is when you open said coffee can, put in a piece of paper, a teaspoon of paint, and a marble, put the cover back on the can, and shake it, roll it, move it around, and the marble makes noise and covers the paper inside with paint and makes fun art that has the element of SURPRISE. Ooo, ahhh. And since these are coffee cans, while this art-making is happening, you can totally make lots of banging noises with the coffee cans and the marble, which is what being an expressive arts therapist really is about- making banging noises and jumping around.
Coffee Cans, man. Who knew.
But APPARENTLY it works because it makes people cry in group. And that is how you know therapy is working, right? Didn't I learn that in school, if it makes you cry, its working?
Ha.
And that's just another snippet of the sexy life I lead.
First, one of my clients had an Intermodal Transfer. I know, you say, what the hell is THAT? It is when you switch from one art modality to another naturally. We were drawing, and she said, this makes me think of a song, and then she started singing.
Which brings us to the SECOND first-
She started CRYING. In GROUP.
And me, queen of the crying people, was like OH MY GOD what do I DO?
So I got her some tissues and a glass of water.
And then she started crying AGAIN.
And so I made like comforting sounds and asked her if she had everything she needed- because remember, we were in GROUP, not in an office with a closed door- we were in the ART ROOM, which is like, imagine you went into your basement and put out a stack of construction paper. That is as much ambiance as this place has.
And this lady can't hear.
Let's call her Deaf Donna, for our storytelling purposes.
She is an "older adult". With really bad psoriais on her face. And Tardive Dyskenesia. So she is crying and the tears are making tracks through the scales of skin on her face and her tongue is thrusting and makingthese weird movements as she sobs--
And I'm like-
ME: Are you okay?
Deaf Donna: WHAT? (Still crying)
ME: Are you okay?
Deaf Donna: WHAT?
ME: Do you have everything you need?
Deaf Donna: Oh, yes, I have lots of clothes and food and everything I need.
ME: (Note to self- that was a loaded question. Don't ask that again in this context)
Deaf Donna: Are you engaged?
ME: Ummm, no, but I do have a lovely gentleman friend. (Smiles)
Deaf Donna: Well, I hope so, because you are a lovely young lady. You can afford to be choosy. Bye bye now! (Walks out door)
That totally made my day.
In other news, I made this Grand Decision that were were going to use the coffee cans that this insane lady who is a STAFF bequeathed to me and my fellow intern and I was like WOAH we are going to do marble paintings AND made drums with them! Yeah!
Then I realized that they said "Trader Joes Dark French Roast" on them and were not easily paint-over-able.
So I just spent my evening- in stages, and in between working at the group home and getting kicked AGAIN and making kids take showers and stop being bad- covering said coffee cans in construction paper with gel medium- which I have to say is an AMAZING adhesive-so that tomorrow we can bring them to art group and have the peeps make their own personal drums with them using stamps and glitter glue and paint. AFTER we use them in movement group to do marble paintings, which is when you open said coffee can, put in a piece of paper, a teaspoon of paint, and a marble, put the cover back on the can, and shake it, roll it, move it around, and the marble makes noise and covers the paper inside with paint and makes fun art that has the element of SURPRISE. Ooo, ahhh. And since these are coffee cans, while this art-making is happening, you can totally make lots of banging noises with the coffee cans and the marble, which is what being an expressive arts therapist really is about- making banging noises and jumping around.
Coffee Cans, man. Who knew.
But APPARENTLY it works because it makes people cry in group. And that is how you know therapy is working, right? Didn't I learn that in school, if it makes you cry, its working?
Ha.
And that's just another snippet of the sexy life I lead.