Crisis in the Morning
I stumble down to make coffee to realize that there are no coffee filters. Urghh...!!!!! I am still asleep - I can't be faced with such a crisis early in the am...I decided to reuse.
I am a tree hugger through and through.
This reminds me of many times when I was sippin' my coffee (is there a pattern here..You psychologists reading this..Stop that...Oh wait, I'm a psychologist) while covering the mental health triage phones and the phone rings.
How can I help you?..."I'm depressed and I don't think there is any reason to go on."
Ok, Now I know that there is a divine being because this is exactly the reason I need to be awake and the reason the coffee is brewing in the morning. If I wasn't awake before I answered the phone, I am now!
I listen..She talks...I listen...She talks...Did I say, "I listen?" In my responses to her I express my concern and validate her feelings. I'm in the groove now, calm and focusing only on the caller. "So you are feeling sad and angry with your boyfriend who left after being together for 5 yrs." She says with an emphatic, "Yeah! He really pisses me off".
We discuss her support system friends and family. I ask her more about her thoughts of wanting to be dead. She says, "I don't know how to go on."
I talk with her about ways to cope with her feelings and how to go on. (Talking to friends, getting out, physical activity, soothing activities, writing and coming in to see someone)
She agreed to come in and see someone that day and she says as we were finishing up...emphatically, "I don't need him anyway!"
Ok...That's not the full conversation but bits and pieces...and sometimes more restrictive interventions are required.
A no coffee filter crisis or the lonely, depressed and in pain caller crisis...hmm...Both are manageable. Crisis can be seen as an opportunity for growth for all of us.
I now know I can reuse coffee filters. The question is for how long?
I am a tree hugger through and through.
This reminds me of many times when I was sippin' my coffee (is there a pattern here..You psychologists reading this..Stop that...Oh wait, I'm a psychologist) while covering the mental health triage phones and the phone rings.
How can I help you?..."I'm depressed and I don't think there is any reason to go on."
Ok, Now I know that there is a divine being because this is exactly the reason I need to be awake and the reason the coffee is brewing in the morning. If I wasn't awake before I answered the phone, I am now!
I listen..She talks...I listen...She talks...Did I say, "I listen?" In my responses to her I express my concern and validate her feelings. I'm in the groove now, calm and focusing only on the caller. "So you are feeling sad and angry with your boyfriend who left after being together for 5 yrs." She says with an emphatic, "Yeah! He really pisses me off".
We discuss her support system friends and family. I ask her more about her thoughts of wanting to be dead. She says, "I don't know how to go on."
I talk with her about ways to cope with her feelings and how to go on. (Talking to friends, getting out, physical activity, soothing activities, writing and coming in to see someone)
She agreed to come in and see someone that day and she says as we were finishing up...emphatically, "I don't need him anyway!"
Ok...That's not the full conversation but bits and pieces...and sometimes more restrictive interventions are required.
A no coffee filter crisis or the lonely, depressed and in pain caller crisis...hmm...Both are manageable. Crisis can be seen as an opportunity for growth for all of us.
I now know I can reuse coffee filters. The question is for how long?
Comments