my eyeballs are dirty
I was facillitating a group session. There were about 7 people there. One woman begins to talk:

"I had a lot of sex to support my habit," and she starts to cry very softly. "I mean, I did things I never thought I'd do. Things you wouldn't even believe. I slept with people who weren't clean--you know??" at this point she points her finger at the floor for emphasis. "They weren't clean. I think I got diseases. Like, for example, does this look right?"

She gets up, and before I can say anything, she drops her pants and says, "Does this look infected to you?"

Holy inappropriate behavior, Batman!

- posted by not_jane_addams @ 2:41 PM

 
values
I have an unusual client. He's a 23-year-old white gay male. He's a good looking guy from a middle class family. He's got a college education, and a white-collar job. This is not my typical client. He's here because he's addicted to Crystal Meth and Cocaine.

I had been trying to help him find motivation to stay sober for about 4 weeks, and I'd gotten nowhere. In fact, he was still using regularly. He hadn'tt even made a slight commitment to getting clean. I'd talked about possibily fucking up his relationship, his health, his family, his career... nadda. Until one day, I had a brain wave:

"You know that Crystal makes you age prematurely?" I ask.
"No," he says, looking stunned.
"It does," I reply.
"No way," he says. "It can't. That's not right." He's visably agitated.
"Sure it does. I mean, yeah, you're 23 now, but in a couple of years you'll be in your late 20s, and you'll probably look like you in your mid 30s. By the time you actually are in your 30s, you'll probably pass for 40 or 50," I say.
"Get out," he says.
"No, really... I see it all the time. You know that woman waiting in the lobby when you came in?" I ask.
"Yeah...?" he responds.
"She's 28," I lie. [The client in question is actually in her mid-40s.]

Would you believe that this client has been clean for 8 weeks now?

- posted by not_jane_addams @ 4:51 PM

 
crackwhore confessions
There is a 63 year-old woman in my office, weeping:

"Oh, Mr. **********, I ain't done nothing but made some stupid mistakes. Alls I want in life is a chance to fix it. Is that too much? [She pauses to blow her nose.] All I want is a nice, warm place of my own. And maybe a little money so all my bills are paid. Nothing fancy, just some place where everything is paid up. And something to eat. [She pauses again, to whipe her eyes.] And maybe... maybe a pet. Maybe a cat, or a little dog. Is that too much to ask?"

My heart was breaking.

Fast forward one week. I talked to some people at some other agencies, and found that this grandmother is the Client from Hell--she attacked several staffers at the last rehab facility she was at. In fact, she's so bad, that the Social Services Agency (where people go to apply for food stamps and such) won't see her. Trust me, this is a big deal.

So the next week I confront her on what I found out:

"I called Social Services, and [the rehab facility]. They told me that you had some problems managing your anger, and that they wouldn't help you. So I'm wondering if you might benefit from some counceling around this..."

She leaps to her feet and starts to shake her fists in the air: "I'm going to kill all you! I'm going to kill you! You don't help people! You just hurt them! I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you..." the sound fades away as our security guard "escorts" her out.

- posted by not_jane_addams @ 7:50 PM