Friends have asked about my daily activities here at Homewood. As I complete my first week, I thought I’d write about that.
There are the usual routines of: shower and shave, brush your teeth, get dressed. There are the morning and nighttime medications, distributed through the window by one’s shift nurse (every single pill encased, distressingly, in its single-use plastic container). There are seemingly constant meals down in the cafeteria: always two protein options, one of which is vegetarian; always some fruit to choose from; usually there’s a dessert that tempts me, even though as a diabetic I should refrain.
By my reckoning, there are three different kinds of group therapies that help fill up the days.
There are recreational therapies. Creative arts on Mondays and Wednesdays (this week, ceramics and also making a doodle with a Sharpie pen and then colouring it in). Horticultural therapy on Thursdays — today I potted a plant in a traditional Japanese style, using moss and twine to house the soil, instead of a ceramic pot. Music therapy on Friday mornings, which I mentioned in a previous post. The rationale is that all these help patients get grounded and make them feel that they are capable of doing new things.
There are interactive social events of various sorts, including collective trips to the gym and the afternoon check-in, where every patient describes their mood, a positive experience, and a DBT skill that they made use of during the course of the day. (Given how central combatting addiction is to Homewood’s mission, there are many different 12 step meetings taking place too, and addiction education for everyone.)
Finally, there are classes taught in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy: distress tolerance, emotion regulation, mindfulness, chain analysis, building resilience, etc. My three-ring binder is already chock full of handouts from the DBT Bible.
In addition to quotidian routines and group sessions of various sorts, there are one-on-one meetings with social workers, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, and nurse practitioners happening all the time.
To fill out the rest of the time, the last couple of days, I’ve managed to do a 3 km run on the park-like grounds behind the hospital, I’ve attempted to do some leisure reading – Time magazine or a novel – and I’ve spent lots of time chatting with fellow patients.