You Can't Always Get What You Want

A client of mine who has a substance abuse issue (which one doesn't) had messed up and was going back to court for a violation.  He didn't go to counseling, was referred to in-patient counseling, missed evaluation appointments, yada, yada, yada.  Basically, he didn't do anything he was supposed to do.  He is convinced that he is going to take some jail time and be done with probation and coming to see me.  Why would he not want to see me? I don't understand? Anyway, he goes to court and what happens?..............Two more years of probation and no jail time!!  HA! I had gone over and over with him on numerous occasions that if he did not complete counseling he was going to end up back on probation eventually.  He ASSumed that he would bypass all of the tough stuff and just cruise on home after a few weeks or months in jail.  DIDN'T HAPPEN!!.  So we get to have the "I'm right, You don't listen." speech a little sooner than I expected.  Now, he is going to have to go to counseling and do what I have been telling him he is going to have to do. 

They go their whole lives down a messed up path and think they can handle all of their problems alone....or avoid them.  Avoiding them just means you have to deal with them later instead of now.  "Now" has arrived.

Excuses, excuses, excuses

I have been a Probation Officer for 13 years and working with domestic violence offenders for five. In the course of this important work the mindset of these offenders comes through in the excuses they give and the cognitive distortions they spew throughout their time seeing me. I hope to give people an insight into this work and this world. It is humorous at times, heartbreaking at times and frustrating almost all of the time. Hopefully, this will be cathartic and entertaining.