Hannah has now been with us for 4 months. Her behaviors have progressively become more dramatic, especially as she’s started to think about wanting contact with her biological family. It’s been difficult for her because our newest resident still has contact with her family, and is able to visit with them at least once a week. This seems to have opened an old wound for Hannah, and she’s having difficulty dealing with her emotions. As a way to help let these emotions out in a healthy way, Hannah’s therapist asked her to write letters to her mom and grandmother. The letters were supposed to be a way for Hannah to say what she has on her mind, but with no intention of sending them, this way she could say anything. The assignment was given the weekend of Mother’s Day, and because Hannah really seemed to benefit from writing these letters, I asked her to also make a card for her mom. Hannah wrote things she wanted to change from the past, something she hoped for the future, and one thing she wants her mom to know. The card showed loud and clear that Hannah wishes her mom wouldn’t have lost parental rights and that she hopes they will have contact in the future. The most uplifting part of the card was what Hannah wanted her mom to know. She wanted her mom to know that she has people who love and care about her and take care of her. This is a huge step in Hannah’s treatment, she is learning to trust and believe in the care she is receiving. Hopefully she really believes this, and this step will help move her forward. Maybe she is finding hope in trusting in her caregivers, and can see that she is worth feeling and accepting love.
Dear Hannah,
I’ve been running for about four months now…about the same amount of time you’ve been at the group home. I was excited to get started in the beginning. Although, at the time, I knew I had a colossal task ahead of me. I don’t know if I told you but I’ve never been much of an exerciser before. In fact, I never even ran a mile before I decided to run on the Youth Homes team in your honor. And I know it was because of you and getting to meet you that I kept with it. Now, even though it’s still really REALLY hard to run some days, I know I can do it. I ran 12 miles last week and I’m almost at my goal of running the half marathon. And even though I know I can do it now…I still struggle and even though I still struggle, I cannot tell you how much it means to me that I have had this opportunity to do something small for you. My biggest hope for doing this is that you can know that people care about you even if they haven’t had the lucky chance to meet you. In fact, lots of people in Missoula support the staff and the Youth Homes with the hope that you and the other kids at the Youth Homes will not feel alone but instead cared for and loved. I also hope we can meet again sometime soon. You run too fast for me so maybe we can just grab a snack sometime and talk about Twilight or whatever crazy book your reading now. In the meantime, I want you to know every time I run I think of you and send you good wishes and hope you can join me on the last mile of the half marathon in July. Talk to you soon.
Your friend,
Kim
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