Dream girl (Photo credit: @Doug88888)
So, I am sitting in the visiting area talking to a young teen age boy. We are at a place that helps teens with problems. To the best of my memory all teens have problems, but this place is for special problems.
The place is one where the doors are locked and you have to get buzzed in to visit. The youngsters here all have specific problems that require professional help; at least that is what I understand it to be.
We are sitting there and a young girl walks out from behind what is supposed to be a locked door. The attendant immediately asks her in a stern voice. “What are you doing out here?” The girl, about 14 years old with short cut red hair replies in what sounds like as much anger as she is allowed to show without getting in trouble “I am looking for my mother.” “Your mother is not here” replies the attendant as she ushers the young lady back behind the door, making sure the lock is latched.
Now I know nothing about this girl other than what I have already told you but… I see something that perhaps only my imagination can see. I see a young girl looking for something, it may be her mother. But to me it looks like she is looking for help. Help to solve the unknown problems possessing her very soul. She appears to be lost in this world not of her making with problems she does not understand or fully grasp.
I say not of her making because I have the utmost confidence that none of the children in this unit wants to be here; they are here because of circumstances beyond their control
As a society we still place a stigma on the various illness’ these children are afflicted with and avoid talking about it as much as possible.
To me this is becoming more and more unacceptable, in communications with fellow bloggers we have determined that all people are mentally ill, just too different degrees and with different coping abilities.
And the teen age boy, he is still angry about the condition he was born with and still working on figuring it out and coping with it.
To him I say, we all love you and always will.
Please join me in showing support for him and the young girl and all the children of the world fighting to control the misfiring synapsess in their minds.
Thank you
Related articles
- Saying NO is OK! (imconfident.wordpress.com)
- Triggered Thoughts on the poem “Hanging Fire” by Audre Lorde (galaxyofspectrum.wordpress.com)
- Searching for Happiness (iamnotwithouthope.wordpress.com)
randomthoughts 
Oh i like this post a lot.
Yes, i agree, 100% of the human species is mentally ill to some degree… Just 1% are ever told so.
LikeLike
Yes John, Were it not for the Pastafarians i would be completely bonkers. 😉
LikeLike
Sauce be upon you, brother.
LikeLike
I have no idea what your situation is Larry and couldn’t hope to guess, but I do know that many of the children with whom I worked synapses fired just the way their parents or parent trained or through lack of training made their synapses work. It angered me to no end when kids were sent to places because they couldn’t get along with a drunken parent or step-parent. When the kids didn’t show their drunken elders the proper amount of respect, I always felt that respect was a two way street and that respect was earned. When parents or adults in the family are using, it is hard for kids to make a choice not to use in spite of all the training they may get at school. Of course, I could go on and on, as usual.
Children’s advocates never really retire we just get tired.
LikeLike
Celia, I am talking about a young man with aspergers syndrome. And having a daughter who is a school social worker i do know that many childhood problems stem from poor parenting in one form or another. So what do we do go back and examine the parents life? A psychologist once told me they could go back all the way to grandparents and find causes for psychological problems. Just saying.
And getting tired is part of the job, sad to say.
LikeLike
Larry sad to read this…..hope all is well or at least better….I do believe we all have problems mentally , we are not alike. These diseases are real and can go back in families a long way down the line of a family and we all need to understand the mental illiness of others. Hard to speculate where the illness was passed thru the blood line or like the sad girl was a form of parenting. Also not all social workers, physcitrist, etc are good it takes time to find to find the right one for the child.
LikeLike
Ellen, thanks for the reply. The battle continues as I write this i am making plans on another trip to Grand Rapids tomorrow.
LikeLike
Well said. Dad I am so sad.
LikeLike
Kelly, we are all sad but, we are continuing in our battles. And we will prevail.
LikeLike
I have had some experience in such places as a volunteer when my oldest brother worked with troubled teens at UofM. More often than not the misfiring synapses belonged to the adults in their lives. The teens that had problems of their own always seemed to do better when treated like a fellow human. Pretty much like the old woman with dementia, the depressed uncle, the bi-polar cousin or your alcoholic best friend from high school. Patience and love usually work as well as thorazine or prozac. We need to stop attaching stigma and hurrying people behind locked doors and remember it is gossamer threads that hold the rest of us in the “normal” world. I support the young man and the girl and thank you Larry for shining a light where many would be more comfortable with shadow.
LikeLike
And thank you Kevin for expanding on the initial thought with you insightful comments. Open discussion is the best solution to complex problems.
LikeLike
We’re all bat shit crazy. Fortunately for me the pharmaceutical industry wasn’t running at full speed when I was a teenager. Throw in the collapse of the family unit along with social media plastic expectations and it’s a wonder any kids make it to adult life without a serious dose of WTF!
LikeLike