Learning as I go

[tested metal]

I made an awesome change at work today. Here's the story:

I drove an hour to a client's home to so therapy. I was teaching him parenting skills while we were also watching a video for examples. This client has been on and off with me for years. Anyway, I start hearing snoring and I look over and he is out cold! This has happened before.

The funny part is right when I noticed this the video says that "Actions speak louder than words" in reference to setting healthy boundaries with children.

I asked myself what can I do different this time around? I am tried of taking more responsibility of their problems than they do.

I then asked client "Are you awake?" in a fairly loud voice. "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" was all I got.

I then quietly got up and got the video from the DVD player and left. I figure I have better things to do with my time and he must really need his sleep.

The difference for me is that I am not really frustrated or angry with the guy like I normally would be. He is only hurting himself.

When I got back to the office I had a very appologetic message on the answering machine and he was thinking that I was going to close services. I just told him that it looked like he needed sleep more and did not say anything further about it. I got him set for 2 sessions next week to make up for time lost! That is hard to get them to do normally.

I realized that the reason I would not use this approach before is that I was afraid that the client might "fire" me, but that is neither helpful to him nor a productive use of my time. This has been a long standing problem for me to be "quiet" and not use action for personal boundaries.

That won't happen anymore. People can adapt to my schedule, not vice versa. I am there to help them and be supportive, they can call at any time, but as for sessions, unless it is an emergency, they can adhere to my schedule.

Heck doctors can get away with it, so why can't I?