Thursday

Yesterday was a day off for me. I had reached the end of my compassion and was stuck in compassion fatigue, so it was time for a self-care day. I was exhausted, even after a full night of sleep, so I took some of my precious time off for yesterday.

It was a quiet day where I got some things done. I took out my yard waste trash can with the remains of a branch that fell during our last windstorm. I took out my trash can as well. A load of dishes is waiting to be unloaded. The sink is clean. I picked up some stuff in my craft space. I took the read books out of my To Be Read pile and brought them downstairs to the library room. It might not sound like much, but these tasks are the ones that have been nagging me - things that can be done in less than five minutes but that are no fun for me to accomplish.

Today is the last day with students before our break. I have four groups to navigate and then all I have that is structure for tomorrow is a faculty meeting. After our meeting, we will use the rest of the day for progress monitoring, or, in my case, for working in my room. I am anticipating that there will be some schedule changes for both tomorrow and the day we are supposed to return.

I am hoping to have enough energy and lack of pain to go through my storage cabinets and to organize things in ways that help me do various tasks. I was able to clear up the drum set area after our Rock Band week several weeks ago, so the drum set is available again for sessions. I also have a task box area started but not completely organized yet. That is the area that I want to tackle in our two work days. I have lost access to lamination for file folders and task boxes, so I will be focusing on other things to make for my clients this year. I will not be paying for laminating film for materials that I will not be keeping or using.

After all of this, it will be time to rest.

If you are not a school based therapist, you may not understand exactly what I am trying to say about needing the opportunity to be away from students on a regular basis. There is research out there about the decision fatigue that happens when you are working with students. My class sizes are pretty small, but my clients bring more and very different elements of complexity than those in typical school settings. It is exhausting.

What is interesting to me right now is that general education is becoming more and more like education in my field of special education for clients who have been unsuccessful in every environment. I know that most general educators are not comfortable when a chair comes flying. I'm not either, but it happens on a regular basis at my facility, so I know how to respond. 

The faculty of my school were invited to a guest speaker at a district event. The title was "How to Manage Challenging Behavior." Our principal at the time thought it would be a good topic for us to be present for, so off we went. The guest speaker spent 3 hours talking about picking up trash, and going to events and ten minutes on challenging behavior. He did not link the topics together - when you show pride in your area, your students are observing that pride and will start to mimic your behavior - when you go to events, you are growing relationships which are valuable in managing challenging behavior - there was NONE of that. It was a waste of a morning, and we haven't gone back to those events since.

There are many ways to create relationships and to show pride in what you do and where you do it, but these things are not the fix for challenging behaviors.

Right now, everyone at school is in the throes of some sort of emotion. Some clients are getting ready to see family members for the first time since admission. Some will not see family members. Plans are changing with every minute. Teachers are trying their best to keep moving forward. Behavioral Health Technicians will be working while school is out, so they are not looking forward to any of the days ahead. The emotional atmosphere is thick, and it becomes a bit too much at times. 

That's what personal time is for, so...

I feel motivated to go to work today. I am looking forward to my routine - well, kinda. I think that I need to shake up my music therapy routine a little bit, but I'm not sure how to do that. I might do some brainstorming and visioning today and tomorrow. What do I want to give to my clients? How can I accomplish these things?? Lots of things to think about. For now though, I am going to close this blog post and get ready for the last two days before break.