Heroes and Insecurities

Any time you work in a field that involved helping people you get the opportunity to meet people with what is called a hero complex. If you do consulting for police or fire departments in smaller cities you may get the opportunity to do screening for this malady. In larger cities there is usually someone on staff to handle the screening. What is interesting to me is the truth that there are also many people who work in Mental Hospitals with this malady.

They start making excuses for the residents when the residents go off. They might start making rationale and valid arguments but when the time comes to really come down on the resident, they resist because they have are too emotionally close to the resident. This can be for a number of reasons, I believe.

We work with people that have hard luck stories. The kids all have stories that will break your heart. Any time you work with a group of people, you will find people that you like and people that you don’t like. Couple these two facts together and you have the genesis of all sorts of interesting dynamics.

Today, I began discussing Mike with a co-worker. It was astounding to listen to her defend him at ever turn. This girl is top-notch. She knows what she’s doing at every position. She’s quality and I enjoy working with her but listening to her defend him not only caught me off guard but it almost made me wonder about my own blind spots. When it comes to Mike, Emily is completely blind to her own weakness.

Despite the media’s attempt to convince you that every person who works inside a locked facility is a cold hearted, sadistic bastard that is on some sort of jaded power trip, the truth is almost everyone I work with has a good heart that is in the right place.

So tonight I ponder where my own blindspots are.

And You Want to Give Them Healthcare?

The hospital where I work is connected to a VA hospital. It has a lot of logistical benefits and very few downsides. In the course of working in various locations in my hospital and attending different functions and events over the years, I have gotten to know many of the employees in different divisions and areas.

I’ve gotten to know many of the other therapists, doctors, psychologists, etc. The other day, one of the VA psychologists and I was talking. He said to me,

Do you know I can only see my clients once every six weeks? I can’t believe that anyone wants to give the government health care! Look at our schools? Do they work? Our Veteran care doesn’t work. In fact, I’m not sure there’s a single program that the government runs that actually works.

This is important for two reasons. First of all, the mental health profession is littered with idealistic liberals who have grand ideas and little to no ideas on how to implement those grandiose ideas. I have found that while many preach tolerance, what they really mean is that you should agree with them or shut up.  I know that sounds harsh, and to be sure there are people to whom that does not apply. There is another aspect that I call the Social Worker aspect. This essentially says that the problems with the world are because our government isn’t doing enough. This cracks me up, because in the mental health field everything that the government has touched has gone badly, but that’s a discussion for another day. Back to the thought, I believed that this colleague was in this camp and that he was probably excited at the thought of government run health care.

The second reason that this is important is because of the reasons I have stated above, I’ve learned to just not talk about my views on politics or the government in most circles at work. I have a few friends that I talk to about such things but the truth is that I have very little hope in any political party as they currently stand. They all just seem to be liars to me.  None the less, we have weekly treatment meetings that I have to be a part of and we discuss treatment goals, ideas and methods for clients in these meetings. They are important and our ideology will come out in these meetings.  Sometimes, these meetings can be contentious but there is always a good level of professionalism and respect. However, in the meeting right before this lunch encounter one of my colleagues insisted we needed to move to a more “VA like model” of care. He lauded the VA system as a good and proper system.  When I expressed my doubt, this colleague looked at me and acted as though I was from another planet. I’m not a Veteran and neither is my co-worker proposing us going to a more VA driven model.

When I brought this fact up that currently Doctors of Psychology can only see their clients once every six weeks, I was told I was misinformed.  Again, what I call the Social Worker effect–I’m right, don’t confuse me with the facts. I brought it up to VA Model guy. He laughed and told me I needed to do my homework. Well, I’ve done my homework. I’ve talked to other Doctor’s, Vets, and even nurses. They all agree that the VA model is broken. One Dr. has worked in numerous hospitals across the country and he can’t believe that anyone would consider it a good system.

But hey, let’s get give them health care too. I’m sure that will be positive change.