Stories from 2007

From the Executive Director’s Desk
Cooperative, collateral work with a variety of methods and case-sharing among YFSA clinicians: these are the stories of YFSA’s daily work. A four-year old whose father was killed. Sand tray therapy and stories of loss. Rapid trauma recovery with a woman attacked by someone she knows. A young woman actively suicidal.

Being a hopeful person is my core value. Not Pollyanna, but not Chicken Little. A realist with enough stories to believe that with hard work, good will out.

Play is the Work of Children . . . Five-year old Stephanie has taken a shine to me for some reason. On her first day at YFSA, her therapist took her around to help her feel safe in this place. That is key for Stephanie. She wanted to know who “that man”—me—was. Her therapist introduced us; I squatted down to say hello. My office is across from the kitchen where kids come to get a healthy snack and cup of water before settling down. Now Stephanie always has to see or say hello to “that man”. Pointing to “that man” has not been a positive in Stephanie’s life. One day she came in with a doll and a doctor’s mask on to tell me that “Dr. Stephanie” had to check the baby, that maybe something wrong had happened and maybe she would have to call the police. Later I commented to her therapist about what must have been going on there. She passionately talked about how “Stephanie works her butt off in therapy”. Play is the work of children. They live and find their being in the worlds they create. Stephanie’s worlds are not always pretty. But she comes each week to work hard. Stephanie is a person of hope, in her own way, in her own five-year-old time. Her ability to find that resiliency, to trust that someone at YFSA will help her, and to talk to “that man” affirms my hope.

Sometimes we know that we will be traveling the recovery road with clients for a long time. Sometimes we are able to intervene in a quick and significant way so that clients can more immediately go on with the business of their lives.

Poignant Puppets . . . A four-year-old boy whose father was killed in an accident has anger outbursts, won’t sleep in his own bed and isn’t getting along with siblings. Mom is distraught and has a toddler. The therapist gets down on the floor and uses the play table as a stage for a puppet show with hippos. The baby hippo is sleeping in its own bed. The baby gets into the time-out chair. The boy tells the baby what to say to Mom for a bed time ritual: “Tell her to talk with you about what you watched on the Kids Network and how fun it is to have snacks!” Another therapist does collateral work with Mom in her struggles using EMDR—a rapid trauma recovery method replicating the rapid eye movement of sleep in a conscious state. Sand tray therapy sessions, using action figures to tell stories of loss, is allowing the boy to move toward some healing.

Sometimes It’s the Deeper Issues . . . A woman came into counseling while actively suicidal. She required daily checks from her therapist while medication was being started. She started talking about problems with her boyfriend but she soon got to her substance-abusing parents growing up. A stepsister had committed suicide when she was about the same age. She felt deep guilt and sadness. Her parents had never really responded to her grief and trauma. The therapist decided to do EMDR to help her past it.

Sometimes It’s Miraculous . . . The woman had been physically assaulted in her home by someone she knew. She was showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder. She wasn’t grooming herself. She was increasingly home-bound. A trained YFSA colleague provided one session of EMDR and enough relief that she could sense improvement. She had the energy to deal directly with the trauma in several sessions of therapy. She soon reported that she felt she was her pre-assault self.