Just Babblin ... Entry is long an uneccesary, but feel free to skim :)

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Is it really Sunday? I sure do hope so, cuz we skipped worked today ... Feels like we’re playin hooky. *subtle happy smile*

We were up kinda of late this morning. Our friend indicated he "might" stop by and our son too, maybe later ... were thinking this is too much visiting on our day off. I think the point we’re really making here is a strong desire not to be picking up. Just too tired to rush through our morning. And, thinking that the only bill to pay this week is going to be the rent. Maybe we could do that with our son over the phone? *Sigh*

Yesterday, was a kind of tricky day. Only three major parts. There was the Parent’s Meeting, the talking/listening part of the meeting with Sr.s Tess and Flo, and the working through of our minutes from Behavior/Human Rights meeting. That’s really all that was accomplished yesterday.

The meeting pretty much wore us out for the rest of the day. It was a tough meeting. There were about 20 families there. I had written out notes, but kind of got lost with them. I am not a good public speaker, although we’re pretty good at answering questions. The mother that does the interpreting seems to do a good job, but it is always a difficult situation not being able to speak to many of the parents directly.

We were going over a Family survey. After we’d pretty much gone through what we’d planned, one mother in particular who is known for being a problem decided to vent her frustrations on doing surveys. Basically, she wanted to have reassurances that if they did this survey, it would be taken all the way to Springfield (our capitol). Like shoot, this is going to take some time! I’d originally thought it would be just an in-house survey. We wanted to work in providing the families some extra support.

It really isn’t a bad idea to present their ideas further, if they are giving us something worth presenting, think we should resolve in-house problems first. I’m not sure how strong the network is at this moment. The network is the first stepping-stone to Springfield.  There’s 8 networks in Illinois and we belong to the Chicago South Network. It includes about 19-21 different Agencies or Centers. Actually, as she was questioning how we were going to get our results to the Network Facilitator, it occurred to us that we were already the secretary to the secretary of the facilitator’s meeting and that she liked us. I said, we could just hand it to her, or present at an Advisory Board meeting. She was like, "Oh..."

The same mother also pretty negatively stated that she didn’t know what had happened to the last set of survey questions taken last year. It was like, oh? You didn’t see them? They were presented in the Center’s Annual Report. So, after the presentation, we went to our office and printed out copies of the parent and individual’s surveys and gave everyone a copy. Next complaint?

Ahh, that wasn’t too bad. Our friend did stop over for a couple of hours and brought an egg/sausage sandwich and a couple of donuts with him! I can usually be won over with good food. :) We didn’t do too much talking about what had happened the other day. He stopped the behaviors we were having problem with so there wasn’t much more that needed to be said. Sr. did comment yesterday. She said, "You two are like children. Sometimes you make me feel like the mother!" To which we said, "Whoops!"

Sometimes, we forget I think that this is a real business, but I’m not sure if there isn’t games that go on in every business. People have feelings that get bruised. People are competitive. And, people sometimes want to take care of others, or be taken care of.

I don’t know ... is there anyone out here that feels it’s always business, adult to adult? I’d really like to know how its done... It seems sometimes what is allowed out "externally" like at a parent’s meeting is much different than the internal situation. Always a best foot forward to the public, but in-between times it’s always a process of working through a multitude of issues as a business strives to meet everyone’s needs, staff and clients/customers alike. TEAM SPIRIT, RAH!

To continue on with the events of the day ... Sr. Tess had and always has a lot to say after the meetings. Sometimes I worry about her because she appears very negative at meetings, especially with the parents. Then, she’ll turn around and be the nicest person. I think she is defensive, because so many people have let her down and she ends up usually doing the lion’s share of the work. We try not to take things so seriously, but often times get caught up in the same kind of patterns.

I was pretty sure, I wasn’t going to let the parent turn my suggestions down with her negativity. I think in general, she tries to make people think they are not as smart or "caring" as her. Like a few other people I know, they seem to feel if they complain loudly and aggressively, they will get their point across without too much scrutiny.

We tend to think, although we have a very poor memory, we’re pretty smart! We also know that we sometimes have to take care of these people’s emotions, self esteem, and sense of hope before we can deal with the problem at hand. I don’t know ... maybe those issues are exactly the point of contention that has made it to our resolution table. Our last words to them were ... "trust a little, a little more :)"

One parent, whose daughter has been in the program longer than I’ve been at the Center, voiced another complaint. She’s not one of the families on my case load, so I don’t know her well. Sr. said, it was the first parent’s meeting, she had ever attended. She wanted to know exactly what the program was about. That’s kinda scarey!

Thought shoot, what have they been talking about in their annual meetings? My next thought was that some of the families have been around so long, they’ve missed some of the work that’s been developed over the years, have fallen out of a loop due to lack of interest or due to the Center’s poor ability to communicate about the program past Sr.’s realm of confidence.

We’re just now getting some of this information into publishable sense, so I figured the first thing we should do is get this information to the parents. We’re going to advocate for the Program Introduction to go out to the families in July (First of new year), the Annual Report go to them as its finished mid-July, soon after and by late August, we get to all the families the actual Program Guide. I’d like to give it all to them now, but they need time to absorb it. Then, we’ll want to hear feedback on it! Sr. Tess may need some nudging.

Nothing too exciting about the Behavioral meeting. I really don’t mind, when there is time, typing out the minutes. We take pretty good notes. In general, we think the days, weeks, months, and years go past fairly quickly. Behavior issues that were a problem last month, may or may not still be presented. I think in general, there are a handful of individuals that have "problem lives." I don’t think most families want you in the middle of their business. So, we do our small part in working through just the issues that apply while at the Center.

On the Behavioral/Human Rights Committee, there is a practicing Psychiatrist that specializes in developmental disabilities from the local University. Most of the severe problems are referred to the University through her. About 27% of our people are on psycho tropic medicines, and they too are seen by psychiatric professionals. I figure our job is to implement a good environment and be responsive to the individual and his/her support through good progress notes. That’s it ...

Shoot, we’re really talking quite a bit. I’m guessing that not all of what we have to say or think through is interesting to the Journal "public" much. We’re always pleased when someone takes time to write a note, really look forward to it actually, but it’s not the primary reason we write. I tell the staff at work, you might have a great lesson or program put together, but if no one knows about it through writing, it’s as good as not having happened, except as a personal aside between you and the individuals.

A lot of things in live are like scratch copies and should be washed out by time and circumstance, but I think its important to catch an essence of who you are, less one day you’re gone and the world wants something to remember you for, or for who you are and what you accomplished in life. I especially apply this to our boys and their families. They are very involved in their lives the way it should be. But, someday they might want to know what was important to me, or pass on a reflection of who we were to next generations.

Another reason we write is that it gives us great pleasure to be meeting our thoughts. I think we think sometimes only as fast as we can type. It’s ok, we’re pretty fast! I feel very alive while we are writing and can do it for hours and hours on end. We’ll get so far, then turn back to them again to remember what it was that we were initially thinking of. I love not only how our mind(s) wander, I like to hear how other people’s minds wander from thought to thought as well. Including that parent at the meeting!

We were thinking it over earlier and we thought ... in all actuality as negative as I sometimes think the staff is, they really are more positive then what I’ve just seen from some of the families. I think they could set objectives a little higher and be more curious of what they don’t know, but we’ll settle for it’s a slow moving group. What they do know, they know well and practice often.

I think the regular staff has been protected away from a lot of the new information like the parents. Sr. has a habit of saying, "They won’t be interested or know what to do with that information, or its too much." Maybe she is right, but I think we need to let them figure out what and what not they can do on their own. Dare she be the first staff who complains about wanting to be a professional without picking up her first book! I think that’s more Sr. Tess’ point right now. They have yet to do it on their own. Eh, maybe we all need a little guidance?

Hmm, think we’ve cleared our thoughts for the last couple of days. I think we are going to post now, then continue on a second part for whatever it is we’re going to do next. Our mind keeps drifting back to the books we want to purchase. Would like to progress that some how, but we’re not sure how yet. Give us a little time, just a little time! Yah! And its only half way through a perfectly good Sunday!!!

Picture - http://www.shambhalamountain.org/programs.php