The phone woke me up this morning. It was work wondering if by any chance I could come work the early shift. I jumped out of bed, got ready, made Philip's lunch (he was at PT and would be coming home to shower later) and flew out the door. I was thinking on my drive back home how blessed I feel to have a job that I am happy to get woken up and will jump out of bed to go to. I got to the clinic and the girls laughed and said, "I bet you were sorry that you answered your phone this morning!" Quite the contrary. . .
I had the opportunity to be involved in some one-on-one work which was SO exciting for me. I also got to sit in on a staff meeting. I'm a sick person who loves meetings (no one likes meetings. . . I don't quite get it) so it was a lot of fun for me. I got to meet the clinic psychiatrist who seems really great and is someone I could learn a lot from. Today my cultural education included a better understanding of a procedure called mental health "sectioning" over here where parents of minors or a mental health practitioner can actually "section" a patient who is in imminent danger of harming him/herself and force them into treatment. I had heard about it in the context of parents going to court to section their daughter who refused tube feeding, so it was interesting to hear a bit more about the process. The interesting thing is that sections permanatly go on a person's record so that some people who have been sectioned will not be allowed to work with or do certain things in their lifetime (for instance, sectioning this girl meant that she would not be allowed to work with children even though she had always dreamed of being a pediatric nurse).
The clinic is needing to have some "clinical audits" done - which of course sounds scary - but really just a bunch of research going back quanifying and formally reviewing the efficacy rates of some of the programs, etc. I told her and the head nurse after the meeting that I would absolutely LOVE to spend some time doing some of that work (examples of studies would be examining the progress of those patients who go to the transition house after inpatient care as opposed to fully discharging back into the "real world", looking at weight trends in patients, comparing the progress of those patients who have been involved in family therapy with those who have not, etc.) - I would be in heaven having the opportunity to do that kind of research because I would have such a wealth of information at my fingertips (because of confidentiliaty it's hard to get your hands on comprehensive records spanning a long period of time for so many individuals). This is the kind of information and research that I enjoy reading for fun because it's something I'm passionate about. I am hoping that maybe this is something I can start doing on a regular basis when I get back. We'll see. . . Academically it would be an incredible opportunity (and no one else is real excited about writing papers and doing reports on this stuff) and it may be a way that I can get another foot in the door at the clinic.
I was going to get groceries on my way home and got to the gate at Lakenheath when I realized that my ID was still on the scanner at home. I HATE that. *you need your military ID to get onto base and to use the commissary* I had to scan a whole bunch of paperwork (ID, orders, visa, passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate) for my application for a British Insurance Number. It's their version of a social security number for which there is a loooong complicated process to obtain one. I'm just happy that I'm allowed to work on the economy though and will jump through any necessary hoops to have this opportunity. I will be paying British taxes (NOT fun) but will be claiming my clinic work as overseas income so I won't be taxed again by the IRS. I will get credit with social security (there's a joke) for my time working here though - it's weird how that works between countries. . .
Well, since I did answer that phone this morning I have the paper that I was scheduled to write this afternoon to take care of this evening. Time to settle in with "Predictors of Soviet Jewish Refugee's Acculturation: Differentiation of Self and Accultruative Stress" . . . .
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