Psych units are fun

Been hanging out on the unit for a week now. I'd forgotten how unforgettable the stories here are. After having worked with kids for so many years then suddenly switch to acute and chronically ill adults, it is oddly like working with kids... Maturity levels, need for praise and attention, still processing childhood trauma... Except now this time it's often with substance abuse and years of prison later. While the group made art about "recovery" I was sitting next to my elderly, recently detoxed, psychotic buddy. It took all he had to try a drawing activity without fear of criticism. He only had a pencil and ruler. The house he drew was a little disorganized...walls that didn't always connect or have a purpose...not to mention the 2 bodyguards he put in the corners of the house. A paranoid man needs lots of protection. God knows why he put a snake in there and called it "the snake house" although this dude may have acted out sexually before. Anyway, I drew a peaceful boat on water mandala... I had to doodle something while everyone worked. My buddy became a little self critical and decided he didn't want his house and asked me if I wanted it. So I traded. I told him I drew him his life boat. For the next 2.5 hours until I left the unit, he was either seen carrying around the boat, asking me if I hung up his art, asking if I still had it, and then taping the boat to the wall in his room. That made putting up with seeing a naked old fat man's balls, listening to screaming by the lady holding the socks filled with snacks and using it as a phone, being yelled at by the grandma with dementia, and being stared at blankly when trying to do an assessment on the new patient... made it worth it. Actually enjoying myself!