A Typical Day In Therapy

I got up exhausted from "Mad Shopping Monday" and prepared for "Meet The Paternal Parent at the Therapist's Tuesday". Bleary eyed I boiled the kettle and prepared my coffee. I had been tossing and turning hours prior to rising because I was forcing myself to come to peace with the fact that I'd have to spend an hour out of my morning with a man I totally can't stand.

After literally pushing the boys out the door so they would make it to school on time, Lyn and I jumped into the car and headed off to meet with the therapist. For once traffic wasn't horrendous and we were able to make it to the appointment with a few minutes to spare.

My first jolt came when I opened the door to the waiting room and found Trigger (the paternal father) had brought along Whirly (his pregnant loud mouth girlfriend). "This gets better and better", I thought as I slumped into a chair to await the therapist.

It turned out we didn't have to wait long. Within five minutes a short frustrated looking woman came out to escort us into her office. After elaborate introductions and unimportant questions she finally got down to business. She began talking through reports regarding one of our sons which we'd filed six months ago. This was a complete waste of time because Jake wasn't suffering from the same symptoms that caused us to become concerned for his mental health and request help in the first place. The behavioural psychologist had seen Jake and felt that his problems stemmed from a lack of social skills at school. As I listened to her explanation I wondered what this same psychologist would've said if they'd seen Jake when he was depressed.

My second jolt came when the psychologist asked if there was anything else that we should discuss. Whilst all the parents shook their heads, Whirly piped out, "I think that Jake is going through all of this because we don't get along!" Coming out of a daze Trigger promptly agreed. The psychologist clapped her hands and with a euphoric and slightly maniacal grin praised us for talking to each other. How corny can you get?

After talking a few minutes in the lobby with Trigger and Whirly about our impressions of the meeting Whirly invited us to meet them for coffee. She figured this meeting would show both Jake and Dan that we're united. We agreed and then promised to meet them at the school in forty-five minutes in order to hear the school's out-take. One head mistress, one teacher, and two teaching assistants later found the ball passed back to the behavioral psychologist. In their eyes Jake was awkward due to family issues weighing him down.

After spending the entire day with Trigger and Whirly getting nowhere and accomplishing nothing, I'm completely frustrated. Trigger wants all of us to go to family counseling even though there doesn't seem to be a need. And none of the "professionals" want to classify Jake's problem so he can be helped.

What will happen from here? Who knows. This is one of those strange adventures life thrusts upon us for seemingly no reason. I'll simply approach it one day at a time.