250

Today was busy.

I covered the local volunteer appreciation lunch for my community paper, I met my “new” therapist, and I did some shopping in Red Deer before meeting a buddy for supper in Sylvan Lake.

I was nervous about todays meeting with the therapist at Stettler Mental Health. I have had bad experiences with the organization before, and was less then thrilled when my doctor put in the referral to them again.

I received one hell of a surprise when I met the therapist. He is a psych nurse who used to work at the regional psychiatric centre, and him and I have crossed paths before when I was in-patient. I didn’t realise he had left the hospital, or come out to this neck of the woods.

It was definitely a bonus not having to start from complete scratch. He remembered me from my prior admissions to the hospital, and the intake appointment went smoothly. A lot more smoothly than I was anticipating.

I should mention that this therapist was not one of my favorite nurses while I was in hospital, but he is one whom I have a hell of a lot of respect for.

He understood my trepidation of returning to the community mental health program. He understood my concerns for seeing their in house psychiatrist. He also ENCOURAGED me to keep seeing M as well. All in all, the appoint went completely opposite to what I was expecting.

He thinks I am well on my way to handling the CBT skills that were recommended by the doctor during my last admission, and he put forth two challenges to me.

The first challenge he for me is simple, not only use my day-planner/calendar, but review it regularly to make sure I am not overloading myself. “If your schedule looks crazy, it’ll feel crazy, and it is crazy.”

The second challenge he gave me is, before I take on anything else, wait 24 hours. Give myself that time to think, review, and analyze about how I can fit it into my life.

All in all, today was a good day. Tomorrow I am attending a suicide and mental health workshop for first responders. It should be good, and informative.

Thank you to everyone who has followed along on my journey through mental illness and recovery. This is post 250, and I look forward to continuing for many, many more.

K