Skip First Level Navigation | Skip All Navigation

 
RPC home > Message from the Superintendent (February 10, 2006)

Riverview Psychiatric Center

Message from the Superintendent (February 10, 2006)

"Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit". - Bernard Williams

A lot has happened over this past week

I had prepared a list of positive, individual staff efforts to present to you today…..…and then I went to Joel Slacks workshop on RESPECT, yesterday. So I will hold off on the acknowledgements I had prepared, until next week…and talk about something that was very moving, and very powerful, that this hospital experienced over the past 3 days as a result of those workshops.

For those that attended, I hope you will agree that it was worthwhile, enlightening, and will be helpful in our journey with clients toward recovery. If you were not able to attend, please find someone who did and then ask them to please talk to you about it. It is worth hearing about. Joel talked from and about personal experiences, in and out of state hospitals for several years. He talked about the emotional, social, and even the intense physical pain associated with mental illness. And he talked about the power of "respect".

Responsive
Encouraging
Support
Perceptive
Empowerment
Caring
Thoughtful

RESPECT

Any one of those words is a critical part in recovery…..collectively they create a powerful healing environment where people can recover.

I want to mention a piece of Joel's experience and presentation that I found particularly insightful and one that I have personally given a lot of thought on.

The idea that we (you and I) chose this profession, this kind of healing work, because we want to help people. And in that calling, we are obligated to "surrender ourselves to the clients and fellow staff" while at work, so we can be fully available. This is a significant obligation and requires us to put aside our personal issues, our own anxieties, fears, worries about our families, our friends, our plans, our disappointments, and life stressors……..put all that aside for 8 or 10 or 12 or 16 hours while we are here, so that we can "surrender ourselves" to our clients and staff and be available to them. That is a big, and very important obligation, we are asked to do every day.

It made me appreciate how much of our personal lives, we (you and I) need to put on hold or in balance and perspective….to come in here every day, do the work we do, and to do it well. It isn't always easy coming in, and clients and staff can have expectations that are daunting if not sometimes overwhelming. I hope you appreciate yourselves for doing this day after day….for putting in check all the things that go on in all our lives, so we can focus on our clients and surrender to their needs. That is an incredible commitment and one that I know is appreciated. As we care for our clients, also be available to each other, using all the words of RESPECT.

And please remember…..it is not what we do, but how we do it…that has the most impact on the people around us.

So….as always….I do appreciate the work you do

David Proffitt
Superintendent