There is no box for the Happy Dance

I am a strengths-based therapist, priest, spiritual director, you-name-it.  I would like to translate the forms, if I need to fill them out, into strengths-based forms.  OK, I did see two lines at the bottom of the assessment form which asked for strengths.  Maybe they are referred to at the end of things.  I don*t see a particular spot in the progress notes.

As a volunteer I am required

To fill out mountains of paper

On each and every client.

There are boxes upon boxes to check.

They say:

There is no change

Or

Things are worse.

They say:

You are suicidal,

Homicidal

Or not.

Pick the goal and objective

You worked on.

If not:

Fake it.

There is no box to mark

The Happy Dance.

We don*t count that.

I suppose too regular dancing

Would require dismissal,

The filling out

Of the satisfaction survey,

Placed by the client

In an envelope,

Sealed,

Then signed over the flap

By the client and therapist

For privacy.

No win

Years ago I worked for an insurance agency. One of my jobs was taking pictures for renewal farm policies.  Often the farm buildings were not in the best shape.  I was instructed by my boss to take the best picture possible.  Sometimes that meant getting down in the mud and muck to get the best angle on a farm building in poor repair.  When my family and I drive through Wisconsin to Minnesota, we look for the best angle on all the farm buildings we pass.  I find I am always looking for the best angle on most things I encounter.  It seems a good place to start building.

I had a client who called to cancel

Her appointment.

She used the broken car excuse,

Not unlike

The dog ate my homework.

When I offered to my supervisor

That at least she called,

My supervisor said

Oh yeah

That*s right

You*re strengths-based.

We both laughed.

It is too easy

To write the script

So no one wins,

Everyone loses.

On cold grey days

When it is all too easy

To focus on the negative,

I have to remind myself to find

The one wall standing

And build from there.