learning from my patients

Every friday afternoon I spend time facilitating a leisure group for the patients. Now to those of you who think this is so low key - anyone can do it, let me explain. 24 psychotically ill men stand at the gates wondering why the hell they're in this 'prison' and why no one can understand the 'reality' that they have been enlightened to. The group aim is to engage them in an activity that either elicits existing skills or encourages them to develop new skills. In many ways the containment that is offered by the activity alleviates (not cures) some of their psychotic symptoms .
I wait in my OT room, filled with art and a table tennis table. The patients come in one by one and introduce themselves without any cuing. There happen to be three Xhosa speaking gentlemen who enthusiastically take charge of arranging a table for a card game. They call me 'sista' and ask if they can teach me a game - fantastic - existing skills! The game is called 'open'. I am of course a difficult pupil - I can't understand Xhosa. Through much negotiation they decide amongst themselves how they can teach me. One of them decides to be my partner and let me learn as I play the game. The humour and the close group cohesion was incredible. I finally managed to learn, resulting in an electric feeling of achievement amongst the group. There were so many dynamics bridged e.g. racial, cultural, language, therapist-patient, gender.

This is why I do this work!! I often feel flattened when I sit in ward rounds and try to fit my view into the medical model. Essentially I just played a card game!