Therapy Bits

so just got done seeing dr. barry. I had an early apt today. I got there around 8:30 AM. I didnt see her until 9:30 though as she doesnt come in until around 9:15.

The first thing she did when I got in to her office was apologise to us. She said she takes full responsibility for Sarah not contacting us when she was on vacation. The reason she didnt contact us was because Dr. barry wrote her a note, but then she put it in her own area where all of her own paperwork is kept, instead of putting it where sarah would see it. It was an accident. She obviously didnt mean to do it. She said on the friday before she left she did think of it and she was going to text Sarah and make sure she knew to contact us but then she thought well I’ve written her a note so she knows to contact them, so she never did text her. And obviously sarah didnt get any note as it was in dr. barrys stack of paperwork. Sarah did know about it since Mark our OT told her after we’d talked to him about it last week. She knew how disappointed we were. Dr. barry said she felt really bad for us. She said the next time she’d double check, and make sure the referral went to sarah. I am not mad any more as I know it was a genuine accident on dr. barrys part. She would never do that sort of thing intentionally to us. She knows we were depending on that check in so I know she wouldnt do that to us.

We did end up telling her about our friend and the overdose. She wasnt pleased that it happened and she said that I need to definitely talk to her, which I have done, so I told her I did and we worked it out. I told her not to say anything about it to our friend, unless she brings it up, dr. barry said that if she does bring it up, she will be saying to her that what she did to us was totally inappropriate and she shouldnt have done that. She said fair enough if we were part of her safety plan, that yes she could have contacted us, but never over text, that if we had agreed to be on her list of nominated contacts that then she could have called us, but we’d have had to agree to that prior to this and we hadnt, so she shouldnt have involved us in that way.

We talked about therapy and we told her about our latest two sessions. We also told her how mad eileen was about what happened with our friend, she said it wasnt surprising that Eileen was annoyed, that she could see how she would be. We talked to her about the EMDR we’d done, and then I told her about how Emily is struggling right now with suicidal ideation and thoughts, but I was telling her its constant with her, that she always has suicidal thoughts and just doesnt act on them.

Dr. Barry told me that her team is changing and some of the team are moving on, because they’ve gotten promotions. Her OT on the team got promoted, and she will be leaving soon. The social worker Mary left last week, and obviously her last social worker Karen also was promoted and left. She said they dont have any replacement yet for Mary, and there might not be one for a while. She was telling me she hates change. And with her team, she’s had the same people working on it for ages, and so now that there is change and new people coming on bord it will be hard.

Also, we’re moving buildings soon. The building we see dr. barry in now is very old, and a new purpose built facility was built and will hold lots of doctors, and physios, OT’s, etc, lots of medical people, so the new facility wont just be for mental health, like the building that they are in now, it is just for mental health. Anyway, the move will be happening soon. I am very nervous about it since its a bigger building, and more space, and harder to navigate. Dr. barry said that I can ring before coming in, and she’ll have someone meet me until I get used to the building. I’m glad about that.

So overall a good appointment. I felt validated and heard, but then I always do.

Virus-free. www.avg.com