Meet the Coach

Day 20

Here's the report from First Shrink Day. As I told you before, my shrink isn't really a shrink, he's a clinical social worker. This means he needs a fitting title. His last name is Carter, so I shall, from this day forward, refer to him in this blog as Coach. This is an interesting bit of irony since I'm not much of an athlete. I am, however, a movie buff and Coach Carter was a rather inspiring flick.

Coach is a very kind and patient sort of individual, at least in therapy. He was a sports guy in his youth, but he also has a deep love for classical music and fine art. How's that for well rounded? He listens well and asks intelligent questions, he is an elder in his church, so he'll have some frame of reference for my church issues, and he looks a lot like my wife's uncle Denny. That last one is particularly helpful as I have always found Denny to be a person of compassion who is easy to talk to and great to spend time with.

Here's the plan. 1. Get the OCD under control with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. 2. Get on a medication to help lessen the freak outs and smooth the process. This requires an appointment with a Psychiatrist who works in the same office (the first available appointment is in May, but I'm on a cancellation list. Maybe we'll get lucky). 3. Fully test me for ADHD to see if we need to treat that as well. 4. Continue with all of the above, adjusting as we go, until my "crazy" is under control. All in all it doesn't sound so scary, and so far the people I'm working with are great, so we'll hang in there and see if we can't just beat this thing.

Before I wrap up, I have to send a "shout out" to The Amazing Carolyn. She works the phones for my shrinks. After dealing with sixteen shrinks in nearly a dozen offices over a period of three weeks, I as at the end of sanity and patience. The Amazing Carolyn took it upon herself to beat the bushes for me and hook me up with Coach. I wish all office and phone people cared the way she does, because it made all the difference for me. Thank you, Carolyn. You're the best!

Off to work now. I see Coach again on Monday. I'll let you know what he says. Have a great day, World!