Work Week in Review: When Psychosis Moves Into the Group Home

The weekend has at last arrived and dammit, I can feel it slipping away already.  After a very strange week at work, and considering that I work in a group home for developmentally disabled adults, low-functioning at that, that is saying something.

I mentioned that the newest resident was a young woman who appeared to be very psychotic, in addition to being challenged with other conditions.  As if her life hadn't been challenging enough.  Those of us that work at this particular home are like family.  A somewhat dysfunctional family, but very protective of one another, we have each other's backs, and we don't appreciate others criticizing us.  And like family, it's ok to criticize each other, or complain to one another about petty little things, but outsiders, yeah, I'm talking to you, WATCH IT!

So the new resident turned out to be more disturbed and more physically aggressive than anyone had been prepared for.  It appeared at first that the rest of the agency thought we were all just a bunch of wimps that couldn't handle a challenge.  We'd been telling them for months that one of our guys had become much more aggressive and unpredictable, but since he looks like a choir boy much of the time, they didn't really believe us.

So our supervisor gave the shout out for help.  And they appeared.  One by one, the behavior specialists arrived.  One by one, they left with bruises, bite marks, and wide eyes filled with shock, horror, and uncertainty.  The worst of it is the uncertainty.  Actually, the worst of it is when this young woman catches sight of her roommate, a tiny, non-verbal woman who has lived in this house for YEARS.  And she's been having to deal with the glaring, the detailed death threats, and having three staff stand around her with their behinds in her face as they face off with her roommate/aggressor.  This poor woman has been so scared, so quietly freaked out, and all we could do is try to reassure her and surround her.

Well, not an acceptable situation.  I'm pleased to say the higher-ups recognized this after a few days and our newest resident is going to move to another house this next week.  The most hard-core house in the whole agency.  We're swapping roommates, so we're getting someone from this hard-core house, which means there will be challenging behaviors and physical aggression, but not of the caliber we dealt with this past week.

The plan had originally been to have a party at our staff meeting on thursday for the two new roommates.  Instead, we had an in-service on the Oregon Intervention System, which is all about restraints using your body.  This was the day that the house was filled with all the higher-ups, and in fact, one was heard to say, "I'm not afraid of anyone, but this girl freaks me out".  When my supervisor offered to introduce the new girl to a fellow supervisor ( the girl having lain in bed all day listening to Elvis and staring at a picture.  The calm before a new storm?), the woman replied, "No, that's ok, I've already seen The Exorcist".

Unfortunately, that accurately describes what we witnessed this past week.  Hopefully, the replacement will be a little more manageable, a little less disturbed, though even she has said, "I'm not moving in until after that other chick is gone."  Here, here.  We all understand that.

Meanwhile, staff longs for a return to normalcy.  WHATEVER THAT MEANS.  At the very least, we'd like all the important people to go back to where they belong, aka the office, to drink coffee, stand around visiting and discussing how the front line teams are not doing their jobs, or who is sleeping with whom, and all the other important stuff they deal with (hey, I know they do more than that, but I also know there's been talk about us not working hard enough.  Big problem for us:  the house smell like urine.  So we mop diligently.  Next visit and next complaint:  the house smells like pine sol.  There is no pleasing some people.  And unfortunately, they're the ones who have to be pleased).

But it is still Saturday, and I'm home, and I need to make the most of it.  Because I know I'm going to blink and it will be 5:30 a.m. Monday morning with the whole week staring me in the face.  Endless possibilities for my time.  Cleaning galore.  Mending.  Organizing.  We have the house, we have the shop, we have the yard.  And oh, yeah, bills to pay.  Fun, fun, and more fun.  Time to get at it.

Comments

[Lesa Sherwood Salvador]

SHOCKEY's...how are you guys? awesome i see as these blogs are just hilarious. i am glad Sam in out of her pull ups..yeah!! so vick guess what? kheldon went on a mission for our church since we are mormons..guess where he went? MONTANA!!!