Fixated on me

There is a guy who hangs out in front of a convenience store near our office. He has some serious mental health issues, but generally he's a nice guy who always says hi and makes coherent small talk. He sometimes gets behind on his meds and ends up in jail and we stop seeing him on the streets for a little while. Then he gets out and he's back on the square downtown and we chat about his situation.

Yesterday morning I saw him there and he called me over. He kept thinking I was someone else and asking about what he needed to do on his case. He told me several times that he was heading over to the county's mental health services to get his medication. He also gave me his doctor's name and number and told me that he would be at his appointment, (which is today). He's usually pretty much homeless, or close to it, so I bought him a coffee from the nearby shop. He really wanted a pack of cigs, but I only had $2 in change in my pocket, but he seemed happy with a coffee.

A few hours later he called and said that he was on his way up to my office. He showed up here and started such a delusional rant we were all taken aback at the things he was saying. He kept asking me for money because he thinks that I'm his caseworker. He couldn't get it out of his head that I'm the person that is supposed to give him his SSI check or cash or whatever. His ranting was going on and on until finally my supervisor called me over and told me to just leave him in the lobby. He'd get tired of waiting and leave, which he eventually did. I talked to one of our clinical social workers about him. He has fixated on me for some reason. Who knows why? Maybe my name is similar to some counselor he had in the past? Maybe he really appreciated the coffee that I bought for him?

He called again today and told me that he is over at the mental health center waiting for his appointment for his shot. Hopefully he's telling the truth and will get medicated soon. He also said that he spent the night there last night after I wouldn't give him his money. That started another rant regarding gettnig money from me. He asked if he should come to my office after his appointment to get a couple of hundred dollars... He also asked several times if this was really me on the phone. He sounds really paranoid and delusional, it's so sad to hear him repeating all this crazy stuff. It's also really hard to try to correct him in his delusions. I can only say "no, I'm not your caseworker" so many times. I don't really know what to say after a while. He eventually hung up the phone.

I hope he's getting his shot right now!

Our Clients

Our clients often had mental health issues to deal with. Some of them are more severe, some are mild. Some are obvious, and others can hide their various issues well. This past month, a video appeared on youtube showing a young woman on a MARTA train. Supposedly she is now our client and locked up in jail (although in my opinion, our client looks nothing like the girl in the video). I have no idea how the police think they have the right person since she was not arrested at the scene.

Even if this isn't our client, it is a good example of what the court system deals with on a daily basis. If this young woman has mental health problems, she might get some treatment for whatever disorder she may have. If it is not "serious" enough of a disorder, she'll have to proceed through a confusing and frustrating court system designed to go as fast as possible so the judges and prosecutors can get to golf on time.

The one exception would be if she had been assigned to my courtroom. My judge is actually very fair and understands that there are various degrees of crazy and there are people that could use some help. For that, I've come to appreciate my judge more and more, especially when I hear about the other judges in the courthouse.