Advice from the outside

One of the many things I love about my job is that I really do learn something new every day I work. Whether it be about addiction, a particular drug, the newest teenage lingo/slang, or in the case of yesterday, how to handle a rather rambunctious milieu. It was something that was brought up that quite honestly I never even thought about. And the advice came from one of the medical doctors my facility is contracted with. I don't even remember how the conversation started, but we all were just talking while the patients were in group (we talked quietly) and they made a rather interesting observation. Where I work, we don't like it when the patients yell or scream because it disturbs the other patients and can cause a bit of trouble for some folks, especially those who have a history of dealing with some sort of trauma/abuse. Anyway, but especially with the younger folks, and I've noticed this on several occasions without really giving it any thought, but when it's time to go to lunch, a group off the unit or some other activity that requires everyone to line up, I've seen some of the staff poke their heads out the door and shout "OK EVERYONE, LINE UP!" Did you see it? Usually after this some of them get a little squirrely....

Still don't catch my drift? Yelling at everyone to line up and get ready? And then this doctor added that if we don't want our populations to yell and scream at us, then shouldn't we not? Now I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus, but there was a good point to be made. The staff I work with are very skilled at what they do and are very well intentioned; they mean no harm doing what they do. It's just a way to try and get things rolling along. But shoot. Really? It's something I'm going to try and be more mindful about. Any little thing we can do to improve the happiness and calm of the populations we are working with. It just proves my point that we really can learn from everyone. Granted, when we're yelling at everyone to line up, we're calm and collected, but it's not always entirely perceived that way. Yelling for some can be perceived as very threatening. I personally don't like it when people yell and scream at me; to me it feels like I did something wrong or makes me want to become defensive. But if someone from the outside picked up on that observation, it makes me wonder....what are folks from the outside seeing and hearing that we sometimes don't see or hear? So yeah. Keep calm and don't yell and scream!