Still struggling

Marcus continues to struggle in residential. He can go for days, even a week, without incident but then erupts into a tantrum that results in restraints. He's managed not to be taken to the hospital for almost two weeks until last night. He still can't manage a "no" or a firm limit. This time the limit was that he couldn't come for a home visit if he'd had a restraint within three days of the visit. He has restraints on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning so we enforced the rule. That did it.

He ended up in the hospital. He called me from there last night with a passionate argument for why residential isn't working. He still blames them for everything and doesn't see his own role or that attacking people isn't the appropriate reaction to whatever is going on. He says he's going on a med, food, and shower strike until he gets released from the hill. He even said he would run if given the opportunity. I couldn't get him to see his role.

I tossed and turned all night worrying that he'd bolt once he was released from the hospital. Turns out he's still there at almost 2:30 today. I just can't see the light that should show me the right thing to do. He's got to get this behavior under control. Soon, it will become criminal and he would never survive jail. He's still only about 9 years old emotionally. I worry all the time.

Anxiety

Marcus had a good week (no restraints, no MHAs) until he knew when his Thanksgiving home visit would be. Poor guy got overly anxious about messing up while at home and had several outbursts. He's worried about stealing food and disappointing us. I feel for him worrying so much about making a mistake. How do we ensure he will be successful? I talked to him on the phone to see whether he wanted to shorten the visit, but he didn't. Mostly he wants to have our usual Thanksgiving ritual (ritual is very important to him) and most importantly, he wants to stay long enough to eat all the pie! Wish us luck.