It was under control

twenty eight

Carson

It's fair to say, the mental health system is servilely stretched, it is underfunded and understaffed. Most days it's hard to have the correct number of staff to patients on the ward, and it creates an immense amount of risks. We haven't had new intake of psychiatrists or occupational therapist in a while, so we are lucky enough to welcome in 3 new staff. Lucy is our new assisting ward manager, a sweet short lady with shoulder length blonde hair. A lovely smile always on her face, i'll wait to see if she can handle some of our patients...

Secondly we have an occupational therapist joining us, a space has been available for a while, but no one could seem to hack the job. His name is Alex, late 20s, but has a lot of experience. The way I would describe him would be, Tom but brown hair, and slightly taller. He's quite firm with his ways, he knows what is right for a patient, but there is a soft side to him in there.

And lastly, a new psychiatrist, Doctor Henry. Doctor Moss has been going back and forth whether she wanted to stay, and in the end, decided it was her time to move on. Understandable as she has been here for so many years, so therefore Doctor Henry has taken her place. I've worked with Kirsten Henry before, great psychiatrist, just very serious. No leeway with that lady, it's all work and no talk. Amazing at what she does, but never really creates a relationship with the patients. And maybe that's her way of being able to let them go so easily when they leave. I think it's fair to say, I threw that rule out of the window when Jules arrived.

Tom and I were sat in the staff room, he was waiting for his shift to start, and I was waiting for everyone to show up to introduce the new staff, and to show them around.

Eventually after the introduction, they all followed me down the corridor, Tom was making his way over to Jules and I decided it was best to introduce them to the patients, before cramming in every detail of the psychiatric ward. Each staff member will pair up with an experienced member to observe them, and hopefully stick with the job.

Tom and the new occupational therapist were casually talking as we entered the girls' corridor. Tom stopped near Jules's open door, he looked at his watch and then back to me. "She's never normally up this earlier, is she?" He walked into her room, to find it empty. Tom took a deep breath, "not this again."

Doctor Henry butted in, "if she is a cause for concern, shouldn't she have a 1:1?"

I replied, "she's had a constant 1:1 practically since she has been here, until recently she has shown good behaviour and that she is getting better." You could hear the screaming girls behind us, I couldn't quite tell if they were arguing, in pain or playing a game.

"Aww god Jessica!" Tom laughed as two patients were clearly having a good morning, "we can tell when it's you screaming girl! It's the morning, quiet down," he said sweetly.

I saw Alex smile slightly, seeing the relationship between the staff and patients, "it was definitely not like this at my last job."

Tom spoke, "admittedly, it's not always like this, but we try our best to make it tolerable for them. Right shall we find Julianna now?"

Tom aimed this question at me, "might be best, oh and just to preference," I looked at the 3 staff, "never call Jules, Julianna. She absolutely despises it for some reason. Tom and I have been able to create a good relationship with her, and therefore she is fine with us saying it as a joke. But this is the one patient not to mess with!" Tom laughed in response.

Tom added, "she's very stubborn, sometimes hard to get along with due to her fiery attitude. But if she likes you, you will know!"

"She been here long?" Alex asked.