Making a difference or making myself insane?

"Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in the world, who are probably not so sure themselves. "


This past week at work seemed like such a long week...even though it was actually a short week! The first several weeks of the fall semester are always times where our census is low because most of our kids have returned to public school and we haven't gotten any new ones yet. This year is like every year in that respect. We have nine kids in our unit (our max is 30) but the nine we DO have are difficult customers!!!! They certainly keep us on our toes. So this week, in particular, I was really feeling a bit burned out. My co-worker is pregnant and that limits some of the things she can do...so I have to work my own caseload plus the difficult clients on hers when they act-out. I'm running around trying to be everything to everybody and do it with a smile on my face, when all I really want to do is scream and then the unthinkable happens. I was going through some treatment journals I had assigned my kids, reviewing their work and preparing for their next assignment when I see the cutest thing. One of my more prickly clients turned in her treatment assignment and one of the questions asked "who is someone you want to be like when you grow up?" Her response was "Rachel, my staff". How SWEET is she?!?! Now, whether or not she was "sucking up" or whether she actually meant it, it was exactly the kind of unexpected twist that my job offers and keeps you coming back day after day...and makes all of the other nonsense worth it.