Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Bittersweet Success

Earlier today, I had my final play therapy session with a child I've been working with for about eight months. She came in as a stubborn, obstinate child who refused to do anything for anyone, and threw screaming fits all the time. Today, she left as a smiling, happy normal young child who is no longer a behavior problem at school.

I'm experiencing such mixed feelings right now. I'm feeling happiness that she improved so much. I'm also feeling relief about that! I feel sad that I'm no longer going to see her once a week. I feel nervous - what if the change doesn't stick? But overall, I feel mostly hopeful because I think she is really going to do so much better out in the real world now that she has a handle on her emotions.

Sigh...it's still difficult to end though...I guess this is why psychologists have one of the highest burnout rates! We get too involved with our clients!

2 comments:

Leah said...

How neat that you've had such an important impact on her life!

Anonymous said...

Print that entry out, put it in a drawer or somewhere handy and pull it out once a month to remind yourself why you're doing what you're doing!