My first day working at a psychiatric hospital
By: Bulcha, The Charismatic Nerd
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Self Development, Inspiration, Confidence

I was 18 years old.

And my dad helped me get a job at the psyche hospital he worked at.

Anyway, my first shift was a buddy shift, meaning I had to buddy up with a more senior staff member and help them during the shift.

The senior staff I was partnered up with was Wren.

And Wren had to take some patients to the auditorium, which was on the other side of the hospital grounds.

At the auditorium, they were having a games night, where patients played board games and drank punch. It seemed like a pretty easy shift until one patient was acting inappropriately.

This patient, whom we’ll call Mark, was hitting other patients and bullying them.

Wren warned Mark to behave, but he didn’t listen.

Photo by Enric Moreu on Unsplash

So Wren tells me to take Mark back to his unit. I didn’t mind, since it was a simple task.

I escort Mark out of the auditorium and start heading our way to the unit.

Funny enough, I didn’t know how to get back to the unit, so what does my dumb ass do? I ask Mark to lead the way back.

Mark agreed with no hesitation.

As Mark is leading us back to the unit, I notice some things that were different from our initial walk to the auditorium from the unit.

There were more trees.

More space.

And no other human being in sight.

I realized I let this guy lead me off the hospital grounds!

I took a deep breath and informed Mark that this was not the way back to the unit.

Mark ignored me and instead complained about how he was unfairly treated. Then out of the blue, he turns back to look at me and says:

‘With what I’m doing, the police are going to get involved.’

At that point, I stopped following Mark.

He kept walking into the trees until I couldn’t see him anymore.

And funny enough, I wasn’t thinking of Mark’s safety or what he was going to do.

In fact, my 18-year-old mind was thinking ‘how the heck could I have lost a patient on my first day!’

Anyway, I go back to the auditorium and inform Wren that Mark left me. Wren was chill and told me that it was okay. We just had to inform the head nurse.

While I’m sweating my ass, thinking I’m going to get fired on my first shift. Mark comes back!

And the guy acts as if nothing happened.

Obviously, Wren was used to Mark’s antics. So Wren, myself, a nurse, and a security guard walked Mark back to the unit.

During the walk, the nurse starts telling Mark of his impending punishment.

He was going to lose all his privileges, which included time with the TV, vending machines, and smoking.

Mark did not like this.

He did not like it at all.

So out of the blue, he elbows the nurse!

Now all the staff had to restrain Mark. It was chaos with limbs flying everywhere.

We had to have him tied up in blankets and transported on a stretcher. Eventually, we were able to restrain Mark and get him back on the unit.

Never in my life had I been on a roller coaster in 4 hours.

And the best part is I didn’t lose my job. In fact, they applauded me for how I handled all this commotion on my first shift.

What was the point of the story?

Well, if 18-year-old Bulcha can survive that shift, then you should be okay with whatever life throws at you.

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