Olfactory Advice

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from a professor when I was in college was totally unexpected.  When we were first year and learning about doing intakes, she cautioned us to be prepared for meeting people who smelled bad.

In our line of work we are often meeting people who have poor hygiene (for various reasons) or who are living in spaces that are not clean, and therefore smelling a lot less than  fresh.

It was a quick off-handed comment for the professor to make, but something I totally had not considered up until then.  I think it prepared me to handle some stinky situations with more grace than I may have otherwise, and certainly reminded me not to pass judgement on someone for their olfactory state.

Eight years later, if I had a dollar for every time I've written "malodour" in a note...

Mental Health *headdesk* Moments

How how HOW does a client who tried to kill himself TWICE this week and was brought in to hospital BY THE CRISIS TEAM, who found him intoxicated and holding a knife get discharged from emerg without ever getting admitted?!?!?

Five Minutes to Five

The time of day at which I put my phone to "Do Not Disturb".  Because no phone call at this time of day will last less than 5 minutes.  It's like, a law of nature or something.

Sleep Dialing?

09:26 - Woman leaves me a voice message asking me to call back to reschedule her mother's missed appointment

09:40 - I return the call.  Woman answers and asks if I can call later today, as she's still in bed/just waking up and will be out to another appointment at 11:00.  I'm busy all day with appointments and won't be able to call her back, so instead spend 15 minutes on the phone with her while she tries to book an appointment with me and asks me who I am and why I'm calling about 10 times.

This is what I get for returning phone calls promptly.

Updates

I really do love getting updates about my old clients.  Especially when it is good news - like hearing that they finally got a subsidized apartment we were waiting for/fighting for for the past 2 years! (she was waiting 10 years for housing, I was only around for the last 2)  Or got promoted to a full-time position at work, when last I saw them they were considering quitting the part-time position, as they were sure the employer was unimpressed with them.

Keep the good news coming!