solo

I have been in the Counselling office long enough now to be moving from being the Bandaid Counsellor ("What can I do to help you get through today until you can see your real counsellor tomorrow?") to doing my own work.  Referrals to outside agencies, team meetings, course advising, career counselling, depression-anxiety-depression-anxiety-depression-anxiety, and today I had my first experience with a student experiencing what I strongly suspect is a form of psychosis.  She told me she has been hearing voices talking to her, hateful voices accusing her of having no right to live, having no one that cares about her, having no reason to exist.  The voices were intruding while I was trying to talk with her; she was trembling and shaking, tears streaming, unable to hear me in the din.  So so scary.  One of the other counsellors will work with this girl (and undoubtedly refer her to an outside agency) but I will shadow this process so I can learn how it is done.  We have had so many cases of this exact same thing in the last two years -- I had no idea psychosis among teenagers was so prevalent.


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