Traumatic Playdoh Experience

YESTERDAY: Soo yes, I missed another day of blogging. Oh boy. Well, lots to talk about. I was able to complete 2 monthly notes due the following day and I also made up an attendance spread sheet and a list of members that are assigned to each group. Yesterday I also had my incredibly disastrous stress management group where I attempted to make playdoh with 8 patients. First however, we discussed stressors and solutions to those stressors, but then the playdoh making began, which went very well, except that one lady needed to use the bathroom, so I had to unlock the locked door of the room, and made sure she got back into the unit to pee, meanwhile I have 2 patients barge into my room. One is a rapid cycling lady with bipolar who is currently manic beyond belief—the other is just a sweet little unpredictable older guy with undifferentiated schizophrenia. IT WAS LOVELY. I had to stop group and redirect them both out of the room. We were all able to finish mixing up the playdoh mix, but then I had to take only about 3 people downstairs who were allowed to leave the unit because we needed a stove top to heat up the mix. Thus, group had to end, I open the door to let the people who could not come with me downstairs back into the unit, meanwhile miss manic and mr. schizo barge in AGAIN. Miss manic starts throwing out valuable items into the trash, bumming us for money, speaking incoherently and running circles around the room. Meanwhile I had to move the tables back to where they were originally as the room is used as a conference room/ dining room. So luckily staff came to my rescue and were able to redirect the duo back into the unit while I took 3 patients out 2 other locked doors to the downstairs kitchen, however did not happen that fast as mr. schizo decided to block the exit and grab a hold of my cart and try to push it away bahhhhhhhhhhh! So I eventually get to the kitchen downstairs, now just 2 patients with me, they are sweethearts and were very cooperative and now just had to deal with my flustered/discombobulated self where I had to walk them to the breaker room to turn on the kitchen appliances because of course they don’t trust patients here, then fumble with the BAZILLION keys that I have to open drawers to find keys to open more drawers and more cabinets to find the pot to boil the playdoh. Uhhhh I wanted to cry. The end. Oh but wait, our playdoh was very successful and we used it the next day in craft group! …..

TODAY: Well today I completed one monthly note and co-led a craft group. We used the traumatized but awesomely made playdoh from yesterday. A patient decided to make beads (one of the button bracelet fans) with the playdoh and I decided to make snowmen with decorated buttons as his ‘buttons’ and a button hat One young fella who is doing really well since he was admitted came to our group and was making those gimp box knot bracelets, he started it right away! Though he lost focus quickly, but was cool to see him try it. Then he started doing those wood burning pictures with the carbon paper and hot tool. ITS SO COOL. I so want to do one. I feel like a kid in a candy store in that craft room. Sometimes I think im a patient.
Also, I witnessed my first psychiatric fight that lasted all of 5 seconds but caused about 6 staff members to flee to the scene, and I also started the ‘train’ in the day room. One of the sweetest pts who basically has catatonic schizophrenia walks around a lot and likes to pace and she decided to push a staff nurse from behind. So I decided to jump on as the caboose and 2 pts followed my lead bhahhaa. It was fun. That is my day. Okay byebye.