THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

I started working on Twin Oaks in '83...this place had it's shit together. There was structure, there was training! There was a career ladder! I was in heaven. There was also the same kind of staff culture. The staff here were more professional and focused on the job, but the same kind of lifestyle was prevalent during the off hours.
Let me just say that, back in '83, there were probably 3 occupations that had the highest levels of substance abuse than any other, and they are: Law enforcement, Nursing and Psych Techs.
Over the years I have learned that this kind of shit is much more wide spread, but back then it was us, the nurses and the cops I was around most.
It was also the hey day of the punk explosion in Austin, a scene I immersed myself in. There were bands everywhere...The Big Boys, The Dicks, The Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid.
It was a non stop stream of musical mayhem.
I had always been a subscriber to the punk aesthetic, even when I was a hair farming, pot smoking hippy freak. I have the attitude even now, a bit distilled however.
It used to be "fuck the system" period.Now it's "fuck the system in ways that don't fuck with me"...you may call this selling out, I call it growing up and getting smart.
Anyway, back to the point of this ( if there is one ).
I had cleaned up my act and was rapidly moving up in the ranks as someone who was a "natural" for this kind of work. I attended all the training I could and was actually learning the tools of the trade. Things I had been doing intuitively suddenly made sense in a focused, academic way.
I got better at what I was doing and the impact was obvious.
I got better shifts, I ended up with the full time "house daddy" slot ( 7a-3p M-F ) in short order. I would end up being the unit coordinator on this unit, supervising a team and having the direct accountability for a unit of 12 patients and their successful progression through treatment.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
The best way I can describe staff dynamics and it's impact on the team and patient care is to take you through the team, member by member, discipline by discipline.
Tomorrow...meet the team leader...source of all things dysfunctional. And the unit coordinator who tried to keep it all in check...who is still one of my dearest friends, despite my efforts to the opposite ( more on that later ).