This past Friday was the first time for our group to go to San Marcos Treatment Center. I really enjoyed looking around and getting to know the setting. I did not expect it to be as hilly as it was, but I enjoyed figuring out where everything was. Dafne and I spent the entire time today, and I think that we had a more exciting day than the other students. From what I heard, many were stuck in the nurses’ station, but Dafne and I were able to sit with our unit, go to lunch with them, sit in their class, and go to group therapy with the girls. The one girl whose chart I looked at was fourteen years old, who came to the center for violence toward others and prostitution. Her mother abused drugs and alcohol and her father was incarcerated. From what the nurse told me, this patient had been put into a therapeutic hold due to increased violence the prior week. When that happened, her nose started to bleed due to her struggling and she would blow her nose to catch blood in her hand and draw with it on the ground. Once she had calmed down, the patient looked at the nurse and said, “I’m done.” This really surprised me, but then I began to feel sympathy towards this young girl simply because she does not have structure in her life and does not know how to ask for help.
When Dafne and I went with the girls, we each sat with a table of girls. The girls explained to how privileges work and that if they stay at a certain color level for the allotted days, they are given a privilege such as vending rights or late night snacks or hours. These two girls had just been taken off talking privileges in which they would have to sit by themselves at lunch and not talk with anyone. After finishing lunch with these girls, I talked with the workers who were sitting at the table next to me. One of the workers said, “You picked the worst two girls to sit with out of the whole bunch.” I questioned her and she replied, “Both of those girls are manipulative and will say anything to get privileges. I would be cautious when talking with them.” After this conversation, I continued to watch these two girls and see how they interacted with the other girls. The use of group therapy that I saw here was significantly different from the therapies seen at Methodist. The therapist was very firm with the girls. I thought he seemed judgmental but this was only the first group therapy session I have seen with him. We left slightly early to return our keys and missed the end of the session, so I am unsure of how everything ended.
When looking back, I would have liked to have more interaction with the girls, especially in group therapy. We were only allowed to sit in the room behind the girls while they sat in a circle with the therapist. I found that the majority of the girls wish that there was no note passing and that many feel the need to be told that they are important and do not know how to figure that out for themselves. Even as a 22 year old, I struggle with this and I sympathize with the girls but they need to learn how to do this without reacting in negative ways, such as violence or self-harm. The knowledge I gained from this experience will help me to realize when these children are being so manipulative. I didn’t realize the extent of the manipulation and how prevalent it would be but I will definitely not let into these children’s manipulative behavior.