The hour of reckoning could no longer be postponed -- not for ME, don't worry --

but for that patient whose family seems to have limitless wealth
and very little discipline or sense,
and who went so far, this summer, as to post a notice for
a lost dog ...
why does a patient post a notice for a lost dog when
it is against the rules for patients to have pets anyway!
I never did encounter the dog, or dogs, anyhow.
This patient for months has come up with this or that excuse
to get out of the buildings, off of the campus, and
do anything other than treatment or therapy.

Today the patient was served with an administrative discharge.
And, I might have guessed this,
substance use is involved.
So often, in the cases when a patient here is forced to discharge,
there is some sort of controlled substance amongst the contributing factors.
Add to this, that fact that this patient is one of those
who conceal and hide and deny drinking or ingesting anything.
Until their bedroom is inspected and the inspection turns up ...
containers for alcoholic drink, containers for prescription meds that they were NOT supposed to have ...

I suppose during the time this patient was here in treatment,
we are all fortunate that there was no overdose!
It could have happened, but did not, in this case.

I really wondered about this patient's treatment, all these months,
on account of the patient's presentation which seemed so at odds
with getting any constructive work or support here.
Sometimes a person and a place are a poor fit with each other,
and I wondered about it the whole time.

Well, the patient is going home to Mother, and home to all the money
and the relatives who are, shall we say,
a questionable influence on somebody who needs professional help.
This clinic/institution has done what it may do
and it's out of everyone else's hands now.
It could have ended much worse than this,
and at the same time, it is a somewhat sad conclusion.