Most people wait eagerly for the few days they have each year to take a vacation from work. Whether it is Christmas, Easter, or the summer time, all desire and need these days off to relax and charge their batteries. Well, most people, but not psychologists.
Don't get this wrong. In the private individual setting of an office, it is easy to arrange the appointments and prepare the clients for the short departure. But in a clinical group setting, the commitment that is made tends to overlook the need for those few days of vacation.
For residents of psychiatric clinics or care units, the group activities are the only activities that occur within their day, thus their only chance to work their issues, socialize, and engage in something fruitful. Moreover, this communication is their only way to actually experience certain special events, otherwise those pass complitely unnoticed.
Noone argues that all therapists working on a unit should never take a day off, only that some of these days could be sacrificed for another day at work, for the sake of the people who need this more than therapists need to relax. If a unit has more than one responsible therapists, then at least one could remain in the work setting during a special day, or a vacation.
It sounds horrible when stated in this manner, just like another obligation that has to be endured, but this is not the case. After spending one day- one 'sacrificed' day with patients of a clinic, one will understand the personal benefit that this comes along with. It is not that they are happy, it is something more. These people suddenly become family- with each other, and with the professionals.
Again, do not get this wrong. The emotional distance necessary to do such a job still remains, but for the day, for the moment alone, the labels 'patient' and 'therapist' vanish, and all are considered under the same category: humans.
After all, to take a Rogerian standpoint, is there anything more therapeutic than the actual regard and the true communication that can be achieved between people? Is there any tool more useful than genuine care?
Patients feel that they matter, they are allowed to express freely, they have the opportunity to enjoy and, for a brief time, experience a situation without a constant reminder of their disorder. Patients can feel hope.
Spending national holidays, religious feasts and hot summer days in an elderly care unit with individuals with dementia revealed an entire new aspect of the job for me. Now I have come to see such days as reward of hard work: working in a daily basis with people can reveal their ugly side- even their annoying one, but during these special day, you only see smiles and joy is spread around. I do not refer to the smile rising from a simple good mood, but a genuine smile coming from the heart, despite any current mood.
The time that is spent with the patients outside the strict structure of therapy adds a significant bond, with a great (implicit) psychotherapeutic outcome.
In short, everyone is having fun together, and a new level of connection is achieved through that. It is an experience that can not be accurately described in words, but can be lived intently through experience.
Don't get this wrong. In the private individual setting of an office, it is easy to arrange the appointments and prepare the clients for the short departure. But in a clinical group setting, the commitment that is made tends to overlook the need for those few days of vacation.
For residents of psychiatric clinics or care units, the group activities are the only activities that occur within their day, thus their only chance to work their issues, socialize, and engage in something fruitful. Moreover, this communication is their only way to actually experience certain special events, otherwise those pass complitely unnoticed.
Noone argues that all therapists working on a unit should never take a day off, only that some of these days could be sacrificed for another day at work, for the sake of the people who need this more than therapists need to relax. If a unit has more than one responsible therapists, then at least one could remain in the work setting during a special day, or a vacation.
It sounds horrible when stated in this manner, just like another obligation that has to be endured, but this is not the case. After spending one day- one 'sacrificed' day with patients of a clinic, one will understand the personal benefit that this comes along with. It is not that they are happy, it is something more. These people suddenly become family- with each other, and with the professionals.
Again, do not get this wrong. The emotional distance necessary to do such a job still remains, but for the day, for the moment alone, the labels 'patient' and 'therapist' vanish, and all are considered under the same category: humans.
After all, to take a Rogerian standpoint, is there anything more therapeutic than the actual regard and the true communication that can be achieved between people? Is there any tool more useful than genuine care?
Patients feel that they matter, they are allowed to express freely, they have the opportunity to enjoy and, for a brief time, experience a situation without a constant reminder of their disorder. Patients can feel hope.
Spending national holidays, religious feasts and hot summer days in an elderly care unit with individuals with dementia revealed an entire new aspect of the job for me. Now I have come to see such days as reward of hard work: working in a daily basis with people can reveal their ugly side- even their annoying one, but during these special day, you only see smiles and joy is spread around. I do not refer to the smile rising from a simple good mood, but a genuine smile coming from the heart, despite any current mood.
The time that is spent with the patients outside the strict structure of therapy adds a significant bond, with a great (implicit) psychotherapeutic outcome.
In short, everyone is having fun together, and a new level of connection is achieved through that. It is an experience that can not be accurately described in words, but can be lived intently through experience.
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