First outing with a new kid client
By The Horse
@TheHorse (238284)
Walnut Creek, California
November 18, 2015 9:04pm CST
I was actually a little nervous earlier today before my first outing with a new kid client. His notes said he had anger issues and often went silent. He's 12, and likes soccer.
I took him to my favorite climbing place, Black Diamond Mines, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.
He had told me he'd been on a field trip there with his class, so I knew it wouldn't totally unfamiliar to him.
As it turned out, we had a great time.
He talked away the whole time, largely about soccer (I talked some about baseball and softball), and we explored several trails.
He's an excellent hiker, and we wound up climbing up my favorite rock wall from the back, a difficult route I rarely use.
I'll attach a picture of the front of the rock wall which we used on the way down. It's actually a lot less difficult than it looks.
I blabbed a bit about miner's lettuce, Manzanita, poison oak, and snakes, and he listened well to my "educational" ramblings.
We also hiked up to two shafts that a kind Park Ranger told us were air shafts for the mines.
All in all, a really good first outing.
9 people like this
9 responses
@yukimori (10193)
• United States
19 Nov 15
I don't know why, but I'm always amazed by how similar to my area the pictures you post are. Our manzanita doesn't grow quite so big, though. It sounds like you guys had a great outing. Things like that really work wonders for those kids... I had a CPS caseworker do something similar with me when I was about 9-10ish, and it helped a ton.
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
19 Nov 15
Such a great way to deal with your client's issues - beats endlessly talking through the problems in an office
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
19 Nov 15
@TheHorse he's a very lucky kid in that sense - hope you reach him on his issues too
@TheHorse (238284)
• Walnut Creek, California
19 Nov 15
@arthurchappell Thanks. One we've established a relationship (and the honeymoon phase is over), I'll try to help him develop tools to deal with whatever makes him angry or shut down, as his notes say. But for the first few outings (hopefully), it's sports and hiking.
1 person likes this

@DeborahDiane (40844)
• Laguna Woods, California
19 Nov 15
Going on a hike is a wonderful way to build a relationship with a young client. That was a good idea.











