Getting to Know the Staff

Once you've been admitted to your room, it's a good time to start getting to know the staff. Each staff member is unique. Some are more lax about the rules, others go by the book. Most have rules they feel strongly about and others that they look the other way about. There are some staff member who aren't even aware that certain rules exist.

Shift change and the sheer number of staff will be disorienting at first. In time, you will get used to it and certain key players will start to stand out.Cultivate them: They can be great sources of info, they might go to bat for you, and on the rare occasion they may bend a rule for you. If they like you, they will be more responsive to your requests. This is unfair, yet it is human nature, so use it to your advantage. Don't feel guilty about it. Other people are getting ahead, why not you? In exchange, the staff is getting a cooperative patient.

You learn who can do what for you. Depending on their titles, they have different roles. This is a good time to learn the various roles and what to expect from each one. For example, Med nurses will give you meds, but probably won't unlock a door for you. MHS (PCs) cannot give you meds, but will unlock doors for you.

• Mental Health Staff/Personal Counselor (MHS, PC): This person is responsible for the day-to-day, nuts-and-bolts tasks of the ward.
• Case Manager: a social worker who coordinates things outside the hospital setting. They will make appointments with outside therapists. If you are homeless, they will find you housing.
• Psychiatrist (doctor, psychopharmacologist): The psychiatrist assigned to you is staff member who prescribes your drugs. Although they will ask how you are doing, they do not do therapy.
• Med Nurse: A Med Nurse will give you your medications.

Obtain a schedule from a staff member. This lists the times for the various groups sessions. It might also include the times for meals and medications. This will orient you and give you a sense of what to expect. Unfortunately, the schedule is often outdated and groups often start late and are cancelled at a moment's notice. So think of it as a rough guide.

Also try to get a list of the rules: Rules come in three types:

1. The ones that are posted and you are expected to follow
2. The ones that are posted and no one is expected to follow. In fact, many times staff isn't even aware that the rule is on the list.
3. The ones that aren't posted, yet you are expected to follow them anyway. Hospital staff often expect you to be capable of a cognitive distortion known as mind reading.

You'll probably get a lot of double messages from the staff. Until you are lucid enough to make finer distinctions, you will see these as contradictions and perhaps even hypocrisy.

1. You are a child/You are an adult. On the one hand they micromanage evrything, but if you need something and for whatever reason aren't up to it, they are likely to say, "You are an adult. You can do that yourself."
2. We have to do that for you/we aren't your slaves. It is true that they are providing you a service and either you or your insurance company are paying for that service. However, like colleges, doctors, and lawyers they do not see themselves as businesses that depend on you for their livelihood. This means they aren't afraid of your taking your business elsewhere.