TwistedBarbie Weighs In

I have had such a blaringly amazing day!
At work this morning, I just had one of those uber productive and not overly exertive days. I saw two clients and did a ton of paperwork.
Client V is an Italian 59 year old man who had been in jail for 15 years, prior to his arrival at this facility. He has a history of herion addiction and alcohol dependency with severe anger management problems. Blah blah blah, long story short, I realize after the session that I have just had a conversation on tapping in to one's own intuition with this fella. In most ways I *should* be scared of him, but I really like the guy.
I have him doing my "Oprah assignment." Everyday around lunchtime, I asked him to think about One thing he knows for sure.
He really liked the assignment and asked if he could write it down for me.
I find my "airy fairy, uber yogini healer" style is insanely effective with people one would never think it would be with.
Then again, Ive learned to be authoritative in my healing love and light.
Client P is a 23 year old caucasian woman with 3 children, SEVERE ADHD and a history of opioid dependance. She walked in and asked if I had any candy or pretzels (many of the therapists keep stuff around because clients going through withdrawl or trying to quit smoking find sucking on things to be helpful). She sat in my office and pretty much binged while she was attributing her weight gain to thyroid problems. She keeps complaining of "getting fat," so I explored the idea that without drugs or old behaviors to turn to, sometimes we turn to the easily accessable things. I wondered if maybe she found herself doing this with food.
No. She didnt.
I asked her to get curious about her sugar cravings and look at when they happened. Did they happen when she would normally smoke? Also, I wanted to make sure the doctor was aware that she thought her thyroid was problematic.
Now I have an ethical question. The woman has been on adderall for 10 years. IN coming into this facility, they asked her to go off of it as it is an addictive drug. She agreed for a time, although she had never abused it in any way. Her behavior reflects her INTENSE need for it. The Psychiatrist has been hesitant to put her back on it, asking her to try less intense and non addictive drugs like Strattera first. She complains the Strattera is not working, but to dispense Adderall at this facility, a letter is needed from me, her therapist.
If I believe that a large part of her need/want for that specific drug is the appetite effect, what is the ethical thing to do?

Anyway, after all of that, I met up with a woman I worked on We Bite Back with for a year or two, but whom I had never met in real life. She lives in NJ but only 30 minutes away and is working on her Physicians Assistant Masters degree. We had a wonderfull time and braved the cold to meet up with Ai Lu of Avid Alegria
and Stephanie of 36-24-36 for a Latte and a recover(ing/ed) ladies Latte. It was so great to be amongst such strong women with a common denominator of hard times and huge growth.

After a lovely dinner, said friend and I went to SEE 36.24.36 with some of the girls of SEED (Students Ending Eating Disorders) at Columbia University.

It was an amazing performance where the true stories of the actors and the creative expression of what it is like to live, die and love someone with an eating disorder resonates deeply in the hearts of anyone touched by one. I am not personally a crier in movies or theatre, but I welled up with tears several times, relating deeply to what was being expressed. From leaning on eachother, to stroking eachother, one could visably see the audience supporting eachother through the performance and the hugs all around after showed the solidarity that is held among those of us who are recovered or in recovery and chosing to speak about it.

I came home and had some chocolate mousse.... because, you know what? I can!

Recap: Amazing day