Footsteps
echoed through the nearly empty classroom. The superintendent of
the school allowed the psychiatric hospital to have group therapy
sessions here. The therapist thought that having the meeting
place in a
more public area that was seen as "socially fit" was better than having
the meeting place in the psychiatric hospital where the "crazy people"
were. It made the patients more comfortable. That was the
most important thing, the patient's comfort.
Dr. Sporennburg flipped the lights
on as she entered the classroom. She walked over to the desk and
laid down three things:
her purse, her computer, and her briefcase. These three things
were essential to every meeting. The purse had a bag of low-fat
hard candy, for the patients, and it also held her recorder
which
she kept hidden in the purse, so as not to make the patients more
nervous. The computer was used to play music. Finally, the briefcase was
important for the patients files. She
had every item needed to soothe the nerves of the patients and to make
the
session as friendly as possible.
Of course the psychologist did not think that she would be needed all
her
usual tools for this particular group therapy session.
This was a task that no other psychologist had ever taken on - and
Dr. Sporrenburg was proud to be the first doctor to take on this
task. She
walked over to the desks and chairs in the middle of the classroom and
put five seats in a circle. Then she went to turn on her computer
to start
the
music.
Thirty
minutes later the room was complete. Music was softly playing in
the background. The chairs had three pieces of papers on each
seat. There was a bowl of hard candy set in the exact middle of
the
circle. Dr. Sporrenburgh was ready. Any minute the patients
would be showing.
The
first to
arrive was a young woman in her early twenties. Her hair was dark
auburn and she had a look of contempt in her eyes. The
psychologist gave her a friendly smile and introduced herself with a
firm handshake.
"Cordelia
Sumner." She said.
"It's
good to meet you. You can sit wherever you would like." Dr.
Sporrenburg could tell
she did not want to be here.
Awkward
silence filled the room for several seconds before footsteps
echoed through the hall. Dr. Sporrenburg got up from her seat and
walked toward the door to see the last
three faces of her patients. The women introduced themselves to
each
other and took their seats in the middle of the classroom.
"Before
we start, I need to debrief you on a few things." The doctor
fished out a debriefing paper and read it out loud to the four young
ladies. "Oh, and feel free to have some candy if you
would like. Now, let's begin. As all of you know, my name
is Dr.
Sporrenburg, but feel free to call me Julia. A few things you
might
like to know about me is I am happily married with two kids, Jack and
Riley. I have been doing my job for
fourteen years and by far I think all of you will be my favorite
group!" Most of the girls smiled and awed, except Cordelia.
"Cordelia, would like like to go next?"
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