ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2017-11-28 10:29 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2017-11-28 10:29 pm
Entry tags:
Poem: "People in Extreme Circumstances"
This poem came out of the November 7, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from peoriapeoriawhereart. It also fills "the writing on the wall" square in my 9-3-17 card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ladiesbingo fest, and the "week" square in my 10-31-17 Time card for the Space and Time Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.
"People in Extreme Circumstances"
Parece Johnson-Powell
opened the door to her office
and welcomed the next client.
Volley had amber skin, golden eyes,
and straight brown hair -- a stark contrast
to her own darker palette of sorrel skin,
brown eyes, and curly black hair.
"Please, take a seat," Parece said,
waving at the cushiony blue chair.
Hers was a hostile-looking white web
that nevertheless felt more comfortable
than anything else she'd tried, a gift
from client skilled in gizmology.
"You really don't mind that
I'm a supervillain?" Volley said
as she sat down in the chair.
"I prefer to think of them as
people in extreme circumstances,"
Parece said. "I've never met anyone
in your line of work who didn't have
some horrible experience in their past.
I always think that you have to show
a degree of humanity and sensitivity
when you're dealing with so much pain."
"Oh," Volley said, looking down.
"I guess I qualify. My family was caught
in a cape fight -- my parents got killed,
and I got superpowers. So that's
why I became a supervillain."
Parece had seen pictures of Volley
in her black and red krevel, lobbing
energy bolts of her own or catching
other kinds of energy that superheroes
tried to use on her and casting them back.
"Is that what brings you here today?"
Parece asked, leaning forward.
The entry in her appointment book
said only, Tuesday noon. Please help.
She got a lot of cryptic entries like that.
Parece didn't know who was adding them,
but they never missed a bill, so she
didn't object to the referrals.
"I don't know," Volley said.
"I kind of ... lost my temper after
a battle and I hit someone on
my own side. Everyone told me
I needed sensitivity training."
"What do you think you need?"
Parece asked. "Mandatory therapy
doesn't work, and can make matters
even worse. You're the one who
has to do the hard work, so this
has to be your decision."
"I'm good in a fight, but outside
of that, not so much," Volley said.
"I've had a bad feeling for a while now,
and that clinched it for me. It's just,
I could see the writing on the wall,
you know? I couldn't go on like that."
Parece let her ramble for a while
about all the problems in her life,
then said, "Let's talk about goals.
What do you want to improve or do?"
"I don't know, feel less crappy?" Volley said.
"Not want to shoot everyone that I see?"
"That sounds like a good start," Parece said
with a nod. "What strengths do you have
that could help you pursue your goals?"
"I don't really have people skills,"
Volley admitted, slumping in place.
"I'm a good at planning, fighting, and
intimidating people. Brave, I guess."
"Therapy is hard," Parece said.
"Courage will help you with that."
"Better than nothing," Volley said.
"Here are some options for learning
people skills and other life skills that
you might find useful," Parece said
as she brought out a folder to show
summaries of different modules
and programs currently available.
"Do any of these appeal to you?"
Volley shuffled through the stack.
"Anger Management is pretty obvious,"
she said. "I just get so angry sometimes,
I can't see straight, let alone hit what
I'm supposed to be aiming at."
"I'll put Anger Management on
our list of modules to do," Parece said,
making a note on her computer.
"I don't see one on Sensitivity,"
Volley said, looking further.
"Well, there's Communication or
Cultural Awareness," said Parece.
"Those cover similar territory."
Volley read the outline for each
and winced. "Those sound hard."
"They can be," Parece said.
"We might need to start by
putting the bottom rungs on
the ladder. You said that
you're short on people skills,
so look for something there."
"What's Emotional Intelligence?"
Volley said. "I thought that
intelligence was head stuff
instead of heart stuff."
"Emotional Intelligence is a set
of skills to deal with feelings,"
Parece explained. "It helps you
calm yourself down and deal
with difficult emotions."
"Add that too," Volley said.
"All right, that's a good start,"
Parece said. "Do you have
any friends or relatives you'd
like to invite to a session?
A good support network can
really help in therapy."
"Not really," Volley said.
"I mean, I have people that
I work with, but that's not
quite the same thing."
"Perhaps the person
who referred you here?"
Parece suggested.
Volley blushed. "Maybe
if I knew who it was," she said.
"All I got was a note with a time
and the address for this place
that read, Go get help."
Parece chuckled
and showed Volley
the appointment book.
"Someone likes to meddle,"
Volley muttered, looking away.
"They sure do," Parece said.
"Funny thing, though -- it works."
"You really think so?" Volley said,
sounding more than a little desperate.
"I thought becoming a supervillain
would make me feel better, but
it hasn't helped that much."
"Well, you can always try
something else," Parece said.
"I've helped a number of clients,
and while I can't give you details,
I can tell you that some of them
retired from supervillainy while
others just learned better ways
of handling challenges on the job."
"That sounds tempting," Volley said.
"I wish I could talk to them about this,
though. It's kind of ... intimidating."
"We do have a support group
for current and former clients
that meets every other evening,"
Parece said, handing Volley
a copy of this month's schedule.
"You're welcome to come."
"Thanks," Volley said. "I guess
I can use all the help I can get."
"Okay, here's what we have so far,"
Parece said. "This is a preliminary plan
for treatment. These are your goals.
We've picked two modules to start.
Is there anything else that you
would like to add at this time?"
"I think that's about all I can
handle for now," Volley said.
"Let's compare our calendars
and find a good time to meet,"
Parece said. "As a general rule,
I recommend sessions once a week."
"I can fit that into my schedule,"
Volley said. "I might have to skip
some, though, if I'm working."
"Don't worry, I'm used to that,"
Parece said. "I have clients in
emergency services too."
They worked out the timing,
and then Volley said, "Okay,
so what's the plan from here?"
"If we begin our sessions with
the Emotional Intelligence Workbook,
that has five chapters. Add two more
for an introduction and review, plus today,
and that fills up the first two months of
therapy," Parece said. "All right?"
"Sounds good," Volley said.
"After that, Anger Management?"
"If you're ready for it," Parece said.
"You can't learn to regulate emotions
until you have a good set of tools.
If you need more, we'll build up to it."
"That's a relief," Volley said.
"The school counselor, she
just threw me in over my head
and then laughed while I flailed."
Parece rubbed a hand over
her face. "I have to wonder
how many supervillains come
from their counselor having
her head up her hoohoo."
Volley giggled. "Probably
a lot of us," she said. "I know
some of the other people that
I work with like their counselors
now, but everyone seems to have
a horror story from before, too."
"Did you try exploring any of
those counselors?" Parece said.
"No," Volley said, shaking her head.
"Several people offered, but well,
none of them felt like they fit."
"How do you feel about
the way we fit?" Parece said.
"You listen to me, you
pay attention to my goals,
and you sound like you can
fix things," Volley said.
"I'm not going to fix anything,"
Parece said. "I'm just going
to show you how you can
fix things yourself."
"I think that's the best fit
of all," Volley said.
* * *
Notes:
Parece Johnson-Powell -- She has sorrel skin, brown eyes, and long curly black hair. She works as a sensitivity counselor for supervillains. She does a good job of gaining their trust and helping them improve their people skills. As a hobby, Parece enjoys cooking food from around the world. Her poor spatial perception makes her bad enough at driving to need someone else to do that for her.
Qualities: Good (+2) Emotional Intelligence, Good (+2) Needs Little Sleep, Good (+2) Sensitivity Counselor for Supervillians, Good (+2) Trustworthy, Good (+2) World Cuisine
Poor (-2) Spatial Perception
Volley (Vanida Neeves) -- She has amber skin, almond-shaped golden eyes, and long straight brown hair. Her heritage includes Thai and American. After losing her parents and gaining superpowers in a cape fight when she was fourteen, Vanida spent the next few years in foster care. Angry and aggressive, she never connected with a new family. After turning eighteen, her petty crime grew into supervillainy. A formidable combatant, Volley uses her Blast Powers from a distance and lerdrit up close. She excels at applying the knowledge gained in martial arts to direct her energy attacks, with a particular penchant for breaking joints and knocking opponents to the ground.
Origin: Her parents were killed in a cape fight, and she was caught in the crossfire. As a result, she developed superpowers and a mood disorder.
Uniform: On duty, Volley wears a krevel bodysuit that is mostly black with red and white accents over a SCRAM chest protector. She has a helmet, gloves, and boots to match. Off duty, she prefers less obtrusive colors such as soft blues and medium neutrals.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Lerdrit, Good (+2) Courage, Good (+2) Intimidation, Good (+2) Kinesthetic Intelligence
Poor (-2) Mood Disorder
Powers: Expert (+4) Blast Powers
In addition to generating pure energy bolts or beams of her own, Volley can also absorb and return any other type of blast directed at her.
Motivation: Traumatic rage.
Mood disorders come in various types and represent damage to healthy emotional regulation. Traumatic rage is a common result of horrible experiences. There are ways to work through anger and find healing.
Blast Powers are prevailingly masculine in mainstream comics.
SCRAM stands for Steel-Ceramic-Rolled Armor Material, a gizmotronic substance used in body armor, shielding, and structural reinforcement. This is a dense floss material made by spinning together threads of steel and ceramic ingredients, pounded together like felt, but not solid like standard ceramic or metal. It is rigid at ordinary human levels of strength, but under enough stress it can deform slightly the way pure metal does rather than shattering like pure ceramic, and is more stable than pure metal due to the ceramic addition. It is lighter than most other armor materials, but provides excellent protection.
* * *
"I always think you have to show a degree of humanity and sensitivity when you're dealing with people in extreme circumstances."
-- Andrew Jarecki
Effective counseling requires a willingness to work on personal problems and a positive therapeutic relationship. For these and other reasons, forced therapy doesn't work and its violation of boundaries often makes matters worse, especially if the therapist is out of touch with current issues. Consider this detailed discussion of the problems with forced therapy and how therapy without force works better. What we have here is someone being manipulative, yet observant enough that it pans out. The appointment was set up without asking, but either party could have skipped it; the setup worked because both the counselor and the client were thoughtfully chosen as being ready and willing for this sort of activity. Sometimes, supervillains need different handling than what would work for naries.
Person-Centered Therapy, or Rogerian Therapy, relies on forming rapport between counselor and client to engage the client's strengths to solve their own problems. Materials for therapists teach them how to make the client central to the healing process and the skills they need to provide such services. Here's a guide to developing treatment goals within this system. This workbook helps clients think about what they want and set goals, and this one lays out a person-centered plan. Most of these things are aimed at children or at adults with developmental disabilities, but they generalize well to other folks. Terramagne-America generally favors a person-centered approach in therapy, social services, and so forth.
Emotional intelligence spans the awareness of feelings and skills for handling them fluently. As Volley is discovering, a lack of competence in this area can really wreck your life. Here is a quiz to measure it. There are resources for children and teens on this topic. This site is aimed at adults and offers helpful videos. Learn how to improve your emotional intelligence.
Anger management is about regulation, not suppression. It involves skills to channel anger in constructive ways, which most people learn growing up. People who miss this can run into serious trouble. Trauma-informed care asks what happened to people, rather than what is wrong with them -- essential in this case because Volley lost her family at a critical time of emotional development, and hasn't recovered from that damage yet. This anger workbook for teens can help them learn the skills of emotional regulation. Therapy often benefits from an anger management workbook.
Sensitivity covers a range of topics including nonviolent communication and cultural awareness.
Support networks help people weather life's ups and downs. Here are some ways to build a support network. Sometimes it helps to map out available support. This worksheet looks at areas of life, while this one looks at types of people.
Support groups can ease a variety of challenges such as anxiety, depression, irritability, negative life events, or diseases. One interesting thing about T-America that I couldn't find in L-America is that their counseling offices often have a support group for clients of the same therapist or the center at large. This builds trust by helping people find out what therapy and their therapist are like, as well as the usual benefits of social support. Read about finding a support group or starting one.
Hoohoo is slang for female genitalia.
peoriapeoriawhereart. It also fills "the writing on the wall" square in my 9-3-17 card for the ladiesbingo fest, and the "week" square in my 10-31-17 Time card for the Space and Time Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics."People in Extreme Circumstances"
Parece Johnson-Powell
opened the door to her office
and welcomed the next client.
Volley had amber skin, golden eyes,
and straight brown hair -- a stark contrast
to her own darker palette of sorrel skin,
brown eyes, and curly black hair.
"Please, take a seat," Parece said,
waving at the cushiony blue chair.
Hers was a hostile-looking white web
that nevertheless felt more comfortable
than anything else she'd tried, a gift
from client skilled in gizmology.
"You really don't mind that
I'm a supervillain?" Volley said
as she sat down in the chair.
"I prefer to think of them as
people in extreme circumstances,"
Parece said. "I've never met anyone
in your line of work who didn't have
some horrible experience in their past.
I always think that you have to show
a degree of humanity and sensitivity
when you're dealing with so much pain."
"Oh," Volley said, looking down.
"I guess I qualify. My family was caught
in a cape fight -- my parents got killed,
and I got superpowers. So that's
why I became a supervillain."
Parece had seen pictures of Volley
in her black and red krevel, lobbing
energy bolts of her own or catching
other kinds of energy that superheroes
tried to use on her and casting them back.
"Is that what brings you here today?"
Parece asked, leaning forward.
The entry in her appointment book
said only, Tuesday noon. Please help.
She got a lot of cryptic entries like that.
Parece didn't know who was adding them,
but they never missed a bill, so she
didn't object to the referrals.
"I don't know," Volley said.
"I kind of ... lost my temper after
a battle and I hit someone on
my own side. Everyone told me
I needed sensitivity training."
"What do you think you need?"
Parece asked. "Mandatory therapy
doesn't work, and can make matters
even worse. You're the one who
has to do the hard work, so this
has to be your decision."
"I'm good in a fight, but outside
of that, not so much," Volley said.
"I've had a bad feeling for a while now,
and that clinched it for me. It's just,
I could see the writing on the wall,
you know? I couldn't go on like that."
Parece let her ramble for a while
about all the problems in her life,
then said, "Let's talk about goals.
What do you want to improve or do?"
"I don't know, feel less crappy?" Volley said.
"Not want to shoot everyone that I see?"
"That sounds like a good start," Parece said
with a nod. "What strengths do you have
that could help you pursue your goals?"
"I don't really have people skills,"
Volley admitted, slumping in place.
"I'm a good at planning, fighting, and
intimidating people. Brave, I guess."
"Therapy is hard," Parece said.
"Courage will help you with that."
"Better than nothing," Volley said.
"Here are some options for learning
people skills and other life skills that
you might find useful," Parece said
as she brought out a folder to show
summaries of different modules
and programs currently available.
"Do any of these appeal to you?"
Volley shuffled through the stack.
"Anger Management is pretty obvious,"
she said. "I just get so angry sometimes,
I can't see straight, let alone hit what
I'm supposed to be aiming at."
"I'll put Anger Management on
our list of modules to do," Parece said,
making a note on her computer.
"I don't see one on Sensitivity,"
Volley said, looking further.
"Well, there's Communication or
Cultural Awareness," said Parece.
"Those cover similar territory."
Volley read the outline for each
and winced. "Those sound hard."
"They can be," Parece said.
"We might need to start by
putting the bottom rungs on
the ladder. You said that
you're short on people skills,
so look for something there."
"What's Emotional Intelligence?"
Volley said. "I thought that
intelligence was head stuff
instead of heart stuff."
"Emotional Intelligence is a set
of skills to deal with feelings,"
Parece explained. "It helps you
calm yourself down and deal
with difficult emotions."
"Add that too," Volley said.
"All right, that's a good start,"
Parece said. "Do you have
any friends or relatives you'd
like to invite to a session?
A good support network can
really help in therapy."
"Not really," Volley said.
"I mean, I have people that
I work with, but that's not
quite the same thing."
"Perhaps the person
who referred you here?"
Parece suggested.
Volley blushed. "Maybe
if I knew who it was," she said.
"All I got was a note with a time
and the address for this place
that read, Go get help."
Parece chuckled
and showed Volley
the appointment book.
"Someone likes to meddle,"
Volley muttered, looking away.
"They sure do," Parece said.
"Funny thing, though -- it works."
"You really think so?" Volley said,
sounding more than a little desperate.
"I thought becoming a supervillain
would make me feel better, but
it hasn't helped that much."
"Well, you can always try
something else," Parece said.
"I've helped a number of clients,
and while I can't give you details,
I can tell you that some of them
retired from supervillainy while
others just learned better ways
of handling challenges on the job."
"That sounds tempting," Volley said.
"I wish I could talk to them about this,
though. It's kind of ... intimidating."
"We do have a support group
for current and former clients
that meets every other evening,"
Parece said, handing Volley
a copy of this month's schedule.
"You're welcome to come."
"Thanks," Volley said. "I guess
I can use all the help I can get."
"Okay, here's what we have so far,"
Parece said. "This is a preliminary plan
for treatment. These are your goals.
We've picked two modules to start.
Is there anything else that you
would like to add at this time?"
"I think that's about all I can
handle for now," Volley said.
"Let's compare our calendars
and find a good time to meet,"
Parece said. "As a general rule,
I recommend sessions once a week."
"I can fit that into my schedule,"
Volley said. "I might have to skip
some, though, if I'm working."
"Don't worry, I'm used to that,"
Parece said. "I have clients in
emergency services too."
They worked out the timing,
and then Volley said, "Okay,
so what's the plan from here?"
"If we begin our sessions with
the Emotional Intelligence Workbook,
that has five chapters. Add two more
for an introduction and review, plus today,
and that fills up the first two months of
therapy," Parece said. "All right?"
"Sounds good," Volley said.
"After that, Anger Management?"
"If you're ready for it," Parece said.
"You can't learn to regulate emotions
until you have a good set of tools.
If you need more, we'll build up to it."
"That's a relief," Volley said.
"The school counselor, she
just threw me in over my head
and then laughed while I flailed."
Parece rubbed a hand over
her face. "I have to wonder
how many supervillains come
from their counselor having
her head up her hoohoo."
Volley giggled. "Probably
a lot of us," she said. "I know
some of the other people that
I work with like their counselors
now, but everyone seems to have
a horror story from before, too."
"Did you try exploring any of
those counselors?" Parece said.
"No," Volley said, shaking her head.
"Several people offered, but well,
none of them felt like they fit."
"How do you feel about
the way we fit?" Parece said.
"You listen to me, you
pay attention to my goals,
and you sound like you can
fix things," Volley said.
"I'm not going to fix anything,"
Parece said. "I'm just going
to show you how you can
fix things yourself."
"I think that's the best fit
of all," Volley said.
* * *
Notes:
Parece Johnson-Powell -- She has sorrel skin, brown eyes, and long curly black hair. She works as a sensitivity counselor for supervillains. She does a good job of gaining their trust and helping them improve their people skills. As a hobby, Parece enjoys cooking food from around the world. Her poor spatial perception makes her bad enough at driving to need someone else to do that for her.
Qualities: Good (+2) Emotional Intelligence, Good (+2) Needs Little Sleep, Good (+2) Sensitivity Counselor for Supervillians, Good (+2) Trustworthy, Good (+2) World Cuisine
Poor (-2) Spatial Perception
Volley (Vanida Neeves) -- She has amber skin, almond-shaped golden eyes, and long straight brown hair. Her heritage includes Thai and American. After losing her parents and gaining superpowers in a cape fight when she was fourteen, Vanida spent the next few years in foster care. Angry and aggressive, she never connected with a new family. After turning eighteen, her petty crime grew into supervillainy. A formidable combatant, Volley uses her Blast Powers from a distance and lerdrit up close. She excels at applying the knowledge gained in martial arts to direct her energy attacks, with a particular penchant for breaking joints and knocking opponents to the ground.
Origin: Her parents were killed in a cape fight, and she was caught in the crossfire. As a result, she developed superpowers and a mood disorder.
Uniform: On duty, Volley wears a krevel bodysuit that is mostly black with red and white accents over a SCRAM chest protector. She has a helmet, gloves, and boots to match. Off duty, she prefers less obtrusive colors such as soft blues and medium neutrals.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Lerdrit, Good (+2) Courage, Good (+2) Intimidation, Good (+2) Kinesthetic Intelligence
Poor (-2) Mood Disorder
Powers: Expert (+4) Blast Powers
In addition to generating pure energy bolts or beams of her own, Volley can also absorb and return any other type of blast directed at her.
Motivation: Traumatic rage.
Mood disorders come in various types and represent damage to healthy emotional regulation. Traumatic rage is a common result of horrible experiences. There are ways to work through anger and find healing.
Blast Powers are prevailingly masculine in mainstream comics.
SCRAM stands for Steel-Ceramic-Rolled Armor Material, a gizmotronic substance used in body armor, shielding, and structural reinforcement. This is a dense floss material made by spinning together threads of steel and ceramic ingredients, pounded together like felt, but not solid like standard ceramic or metal. It is rigid at ordinary human levels of strength, but under enough stress it can deform slightly the way pure metal does rather than shattering like pure ceramic, and is more stable than pure metal due to the ceramic addition. It is lighter than most other armor materials, but provides excellent protection.
* * *
"I always think you have to show a degree of humanity and sensitivity when you're dealing with people in extreme circumstances."
-- Andrew Jarecki
Effective counseling requires a willingness to work on personal problems and a positive therapeutic relationship. For these and other reasons, forced therapy doesn't work and its violation of boundaries often makes matters worse, especially if the therapist is out of touch with current issues. Consider this detailed discussion of the problems with forced therapy and how therapy without force works better. What we have here is someone being manipulative, yet observant enough that it pans out. The appointment was set up without asking, but either party could have skipped it; the setup worked because both the counselor and the client were thoughtfully chosen as being ready and willing for this sort of activity. Sometimes, supervillains need different handling than what would work for naries.
Person-Centered Therapy, or Rogerian Therapy, relies on forming rapport between counselor and client to engage the client's strengths to solve their own problems. Materials for therapists teach them how to make the client central to the healing process and the skills they need to provide such services. Here's a guide to developing treatment goals within this system. This workbook helps clients think about what they want and set goals, and this one lays out a person-centered plan. Most of these things are aimed at children or at adults with developmental disabilities, but they generalize well to other folks. Terramagne-America generally favors a person-centered approach in therapy, social services, and so forth.
Emotional intelligence spans the awareness of feelings and skills for handling them fluently. As Volley is discovering, a lack of competence in this area can really wreck your life. Here is a quiz to measure it. There are resources for children and teens on this topic. This site is aimed at adults and offers helpful videos. Learn how to improve your emotional intelligence.
Anger management is about regulation, not suppression. It involves skills to channel anger in constructive ways, which most people learn growing up. People who miss this can run into serious trouble. Trauma-informed care asks what happened to people, rather than what is wrong with them -- essential in this case because Volley lost her family at a critical time of emotional development, and hasn't recovered from that damage yet. This anger workbook for teens can help them learn the skills of emotional regulation. Therapy often benefits from an anger management workbook.
Sensitivity covers a range of topics including nonviolent communication and cultural awareness.
Support networks help people weather life's ups and downs. Here are some ways to build a support network. Sometimes it helps to map out available support. This worksheet looks at areas of life, while this one looks at types of people.
Support groups can ease a variety of challenges such as anxiety, depression, irritability, negative life events, or diseases. One interesting thing about T-America that I couldn't find in L-America is that their counseling offices often have a support group for clients of the same therapist or the center at large. This builds trust by helping people find out what therapy and their therapist are like, as well as the usual benefits of social support. Read about finding a support group or starting one.
Hoohoo is slang for female genitalia.
no subject
Yay!