Today, I was talking with a co-worker about the pros and cons of working at the prison. As I left work, I was reminded of an incident, years ago.
It was quitting time, and I was leaving the prison unit, as was another social worker. When we got to the front gate, a security captain was talking to a family member of one our patients. The family member was very distraught, and wanted immediate access to information about the patient within. The security captain firmly and calmly repeated to this family member that they could call the unit the next day, between 8 AM and 5 PM and ask to speak to a social worker to obtain the information the family member desired
The security captain never acknowledged that we were social workers leaving the unit. I flashed back to when I worked at the county hospital.. If I had been in the vicinity of this situation at the county hospital, whether or not it was a patient about whom I had any information, I would have been dragged into the situation. .
One of the best lessons I have learned while working at the Montford TDCJ Unit http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/unit_directory/jm.html is the lesson of boundaries.
No comments:
Post a Comment