Today I write with a hint of sorrow.
I have been tremendously blessed with the opportunity of doing my internship at West Ridge Academy this summer. West Ridge is a residential treatment center for youth at-risk. I won't lie, at first I was really hesitant to work there because quite frankly sometimes i really don't like kids. They drive me bonkers and all I want to do is slap them across the face. However, that is no longer the case. Working with these kids has taught me a number of things that I hope I never loose.
1. Patience
2. Keeping my cool, ALL THE TIME
3. Consistency and how important it is
4. The importance of genuinely caring about others
5. Second, third, and gabillionth chances should ALWAYS be given
6. People truly "Can do hard things"
7. The importance of trust
These are things I learned from the kids. I also worked with incredible staff.
Shout out #1 goes to John Webb, my supervisor. He is the most incredible man (other than Derek and my Dad of course). But seriously. He is so good at what he does becuase he genuinely cares about the kids and he LOVES his job. He also just lets me do things. I am a hands on learner and quite frankly, John baptized me by fire. He threw me in the snake pit and hoped I lived to see the next day. (it wasn't really that bad). But the first time i ran group, I was alone. No John, No Eli. Just me.
Who is Eli you say? Eli is John's wingman. They are Maverick and Goose. (Although John acts more like Goose cuz he is much more goofy than Eli. But that is ok). Eli is also incredible at what he does and he was the prime example of patience, concern, and understanding with the kids.
My wingman was Betsey. Bert and Ernie we were called. She was also an intern, she came about 5 or 6 weeks into my internship and I love her. Together we tackled some pretty big accomplishments. Cough Cough...Camp Hanna. I couldn't have survived without her. When one of us was falling off our A-game, the other was there to pull us back. Plus, it's nice to have a girlfriend around.
I have made lifelong friends working at West Ridge. I am sad to leave. It was an incredible experience. I learned a lot. I grew a lot. Now I hope to share what I have learned with others. I chose to go into recreation therapy at first because of selfish reasons: I get to play everyday. But I have learned it is so much more than that. I am helping people become better everyday. Sometimes I feel like a failure. Nothing is getting through to the kids. Then it clicks and they choose to change and their progress skyrockets. I have seen this happen again and again. It is amazing what can be done by simply using recreation and leisure as the modality of therapy. You do an activity or game and you talk about it. How can rappelling save your life? Well, let's talk about back-up systems (rattle off a list 5-10 things long of back-up systems used in rappelling), what are back-up systems in your life? why do we have them? how can we establish them? Etc.
