Doc Warren

Though I try to avoid anything political in my blog and in my personal life and few would argue that health care has become a major political hot button issue these past few years, I feel the need to share some frustrations, one clinician to others. This sharing will not be a red versus blue or “us versus them” type of thing, but more a sharing of some weird and unsettling observations. Hopefully someone reading this will be able to help me better understand the “grand scheme of things” when it comes to insurance.

I write this blog moments after receiving an email telling me that my father, Warren Corson II, passed away over night. I was checking my email between sessions as I always do and must say that I never expected this. After closing the office and feeling numb I decided to write in hopes that it may benefit others.

I recently experienced something that I had not experienced since I opened my practice several years ago; several open session slots. This was not due to the economy or because my clients just stopped coming to treatment, it was due to the fact that several clients were heading off to faraway places to attend college. Some of these clients had been with me for a few years and in a sense became fixtures in the office. I mean, sure they improved and as a result came to sessions less and less based on need, but for the most part not a month had gone by since they entered treatment that they did not have at least one session. Some of them left an impact either by being extra nice to staff or by going out of their way to pet our mascot Ophie (short for Ophelia of Shakespeare fame) or a number of other things. A few left an impact because of just how far they had progressed from when they first entered the waiting room.

I know we have all been taught about boundaries in therapy and keeping a professional detachment to our clients in which we are warm, compassionate, empathetic but do not get too close to our clients; they are not our friends and they are not our children. We know that such an attachment can interfere with judgment and open us up to litigation. I get that. I also get that there are different levels of boundaries based on treatment setting. For instance, in a not for profit community based program model it is not uncommon to have volunteers help with many non clinical projects. Most of us have come into such programs on our days off, or have been asked to cancel clinical appointments for a day to assist with community projects that find us elbows deep working with clients. To me, once you have broken bread with or built a room with volunteers there is a certain bond that may develop that you would not see otherwise. You are still professional and keep your boundaries but it is akin to Dorothy peeking behind the curtain in OZ, after she saw the bells and whistles she realized that behind the façade was just another person.

Many people do not know this but although I am a proud pacifist I am also proud to come from a family that has served in this country’s armed services going at least as far back as the Civil War. I, like many of my relatives before me signed up to serve while a senior in High School as part of a delayed enlistment program that allowed me to go on weekend maneuvers with the National Guard Unit that I would be assigned to once I completed basic training. Although a pacifist I felt that I could align my personal and religious beliefs with the desire to serve; I elected to get into Military Intelligence as I felt my work may have been able to save lives. A rapidly growing lump in my throat, the eventual removal of tumors and cysts, need for ongoing treatment and resultant lifelong changes with my body ended my military service almost before it began; the military only wants healthy bodies. Later I attended a civilian program at Norwich University the private military college in Vermont (BA, MA & CAGS). I am proud to be affiliated with those who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country.