Wednesdays
are children’s day at WE-ACTx. In the morning, I work with our Musicians
Without Boarders team to provide the patients with music therapy. WE-ACTx
trains a group of young adults through Musicians Without Boarders called “Peer
Parents” who help run support groups that occur on Mondays, Saturdays, and
Sundays. A Peer Parent, Chris (head musician at WE-ACTx), Ali (secondary musician
at WE-ACTx), and I have started Wednesday morning group therapy sessions. These
sessions are designed to entertain kids while they’re waiting for their
appointment. Our objectives are to help patients relieve stress, express
themselves, and acquire coping skills.
Yesterday
was only our second time running the therapy sessions, and our success has
increased drastically since our first try last week. The main obstacles we face
are ensuring kids feel integrated when they arrive to the practices, as well as
making sure they don’t miss their appointments. Our sessions include all age
groups; so stimulating each child is sometimes difficult, as well. Next week we
are trying a new approach where we will bring down one group for the first hour
and a second group for the final hour. Hopefully this will make some of our
challenges a little easier to manage.
I
attend the psychosocial meetings with the clinic staff on Wednesday afternoons.
They discuss serious cases within the youth program. The staff typically sees
adherence issues with children, so a lot of the discussion is around kids who
have a particularly bad record. Some other topics involve complications in
family life, as well as noticeably poor behavior. They devise strategies to
help identify the best way to help the patient and get them back on a healthy
track.
Follow the link to a video of our cook, Serafine, and me that was filmed
by Stephanie. She taught me how to cut a papaya, which we have growing in our
backyard. Serafine is the sweetest woman in the world, and we think of her as
our mom away from home:)
-E
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