Gateway Longview's Behavioral Health Clinic strives to protect, enrich and give hope to every child they work with. With clinics in over 30 school districts across WNY, here are just a few successes from February, told by our Behavioral Health staff.
"I was transferred a 10-year-old child from another mental health clinician. This child was very minimal with his engagement with me and would shut down during session – avoiding eye contact, would ask to leave sessions early, and he would ignore me altogether. I found myself very frustrated and these sessions most definitely tested my patience as a newer clinician.
Recently, this child came to our most recent session and I found myself with what seemed like a whole new child! This child was interacting with me, playing games, opening up about his feelings and family life, and even said he was happy he was able to come to our session today.
As a clinician, our success stories are not always a successful discharge or someone in full recovery from their mental illness diagnosis. Our success stories can be something as little as a youth opening up to us and seeing those little moments of progress. This was most definitely a “victory moment” that left me smiling for days!"