Broken

10/03/2026

We went to the Renaissance Faire! He had a blast. The weather was good, and he loved being out in the community.

He was very ‘in his head’ for the drive there and back. He was ok while we were at the Faire. He wanted to shop. Always wants to shop. Usually he begs for things, but this time he didn’t. His main goal was to buy a leather journal. He loves leather journals, especially from the Renaissance era.

Oddly, there weren’t many vendors who sold journals this year. He finally found one he liked. Of course I bought it for him! He also found a ring he liked, so he got that, too.

He had about $25 left from his SSI. The journal was $15 and the ring was $5. He stayed within budget! Well done!

The place was so crowded. I don’t like crowds like that, but it was good to be there with my FM and see him enjoy the event. So worth it!

I haven’t heard from the administrator. I don’t expect to. But I did tell her I was taking him out, as that awol was a one-off. I was sure (pretty sure) that he wouldn’t walk away.

In fact, when I told him it was time to go back, he didn’t protest. Thank goodness! So in that way, he has improved.

The week before the Faire, he only did 9 groups. He thinks he may have done the same this past week. He said he hasn’t been feeling well. I talked to one of the nurses and they said he’s been needing to lie down in his room a lot. That’s one of his coping skills when the spirits get bad. At least he has a coping skill that works.

I hope to have a meeting with his psychiatrist this week. The doc had added Seroquel 50mg at night a few weeks ago. I think it’s making him lethargic. It was added about the time that he slowed down on group activities. He’s on too many antipsychotics, in my opinion. Clozapine. Invega sustenna. Zyprexa. Seroquel. Definitely time to talk with the doc.

At least he got to get out and enjoy an activity outside! It was too crowded to get a good pic of him there, but this is a pic of the Queen:

09/17/2026

I got an email from the system administration who oversees the program at the facility my FM lives in. I am not happy.

I haven’t been happy with her for some time. We don’t seem to click. I keep trying to work WITH her, but it’s a real challenge for me.

Remember a few months ago when she proposed an incentive program to encourage my FM to meet their groups goal? I agreed to do what she asked even though I really didn’t think it would work.

My part was to withhold bringing fast food to our weekly visits. As family, that felt weird, but I wanted to compromise and work with them. The plan required him to do 10 points in a week for which I’d bring him a soda or juice or som**hing. If he achieved 15 points, I’d bring fast food.

He wasn’t even close for the first four weeks. Maybe longer. A few weeks ago, he stepped it up. Coincidentally, that was the same time that we added Lamictal to his meds.

He exceeded the goal for two weeks. Missed it by one the third week (26), and only got 19 last week. It took so long I had forgotten about the goals being 10/15 for drink and food. I was focused on the general goal of 27 per week.

Our city has an annual Renaissance Faire. We’ve gone to it since he was 11-12. We missed several years in a row.

He asked if I could take him this year, and the administrator said yes. As long as there were ‘no incidents’. Not sure what that meant, but he doesn’t have incidents.

I emailed her yesterday to verify that I could take him. Today, I received her reply. Ugh.

She said that he eloped on one of our last ‘outings’ and was gone for a couple of days. She’s concerned that he may elope if we go to the Faire.

First of all, it wasn’t an outing. I had taken him to an appointment with his ECT doctor. This was in JANUARY! Shortly after that incident, he started ECT again. I took him to approximately 15 treatments. Out of the facility. After the AWOL. And he never eloped. Does she not know this???

Lately, I’ve realized he’s not better than when he was admitted there. I‘ve been focused on the hope that this was an excellent place for him. It is and it isn’t. Staff is really good. They offer a lot of groups. It’s a nice place. But it’s locked. He’s not allowed most of the things that make him happy. Like a phone. Video games. New (to him) books. His necklaces and stones.

Then I think about the board and care home in the community. He was mostly happy there because he had his things. There were three issues that prompted me to move him.

1. He was using m**h often.

2. Staff didn’t do much for the residents. They managed meds and made food, such as it was. No activities. No expectations.

3. His outpatient team was worthless. The first ‘behavioral health worker’ seemed like he’d be good. They all do, right? One of the things I stressed was that he work with my FM to stop energy drinks. So what happened? In a meeting, this worker said he’d been giving my FM an energy drink to motivate him. Huh??? The next was bad, too. She’d drive up to the house. Call my FM. If he didn’t answer she’d leave. If he did answer, she’d ask him if he wanted to go somewhere and if he said no, she’d leave.

So here we are. In the board and care he had freedom. In the STP (Special Treatment Program) where is now, too few freedoms. In between these levels, there were similar challenges.

It all boils down to two factors: many people who work these programs aren’t good at what they do. I don’t know if that’s training issues or disinterest in their work. The second issue is the prevalence of street drugs.

Back to the group requirement: I’m not seeing progress even though he’s attending more groups. Shouldn’t the progress be measurable? Like comparing what he was able to do before the groups and what he can do now? I need him to have good skills to enable him to return to the community. I have to find out if they have benchmarks not related to ticking off boxes of points earned.

It’s never easy. Most of us here know that.

09/13/2026

I’ll update soon. For now I want to let you all know what I’ve been focused on.

I have learned so much about schizophrenia and the system of care. I’ve learned from my own experiences and from so many other caregivers. I decided it would make sense to put all that information into a website.

A website is perfect. A book would become outdated. Most media would. But a website can be edited again and again!

So take a look. Let me know if you see anything I need to change or if you have additional ideas to add to the site.

I hope you all like it and share it.

Website:

www.schizophreniacaregiversanctuary.com

page:

https://www.facebook.com/SczCGSanctuary?mibextid=wwXIfr

We Are in This Together. A warm, independent sanctuary offering schizophrenia caregiver support, plain-language resource guides, and practical system tools.

08/26/2026

Things have been awesome for the past week! Really, really good. I hope it lasts!

I believe his med change has a lot to do with this new phase. After years of him refusing Lamictal and only agreeing to Depakote (because the aliens make it. Duh!) he finally agreed. The doc started him on a low dose, as they should. It’s been a gradual increase. I was concerned about that because the doc discontinued the Depakote when he started my FM on 25mg of Lamictal. So, he had very little mood stabilizer on board. I think this is why he had that episode of lying on the floor a couple of weeks ago.

Every two weeks, his dose was increased. Last Monday, he started on 100mg. When he took the med in the past, he did well at 150mg, and then had it increased to 200mg. This Monday, they will increase it to 150mg.

If it continues to work as well as it has been at 100mg, 150mg should be a real game-changer!

The great news is that as of last Monday, he started doing groups! He’s engaging in them, too! He calls me almost every day to tell me how many groups he did that day. I am blown away! He’s been going to 6-7 groups/activities per day! And his grand total for the week is….

35 points!!

Holy smoke! That’s almost equivalent to a full-time job! I’m so proud of him. He said he’s going to groups because he feels better than he has in a long time. The right meds can really make a difference.

He is still playing disc golf once a week with the Occupational Therapist (OT). They play video games with him once or twice a week. He has Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis (CBTp) three times a week. All of these things matter in treatment. It’s not just meds alone. Meds are absolutely necessary, but they are the foundation. He’s building on that foundation now.

I’ve often compared physical therapy to mental health treatment. If we break a leg, the bone has to be set. It has to be stabilized by a brace, a cast, or surgery. Once that medical stabilization happens, then the hard work of physical therapy begins. You can’t fully heal without that physical therapy component. It’s no different in severe mental illness.

I’m just so happy he’s finally making progress. I’ve talked to different doctors who have treated him over the years. I’d ask them to switch him to Lamictal instead of Depakote. They wouldn’t, because he wouldn’t agree. IMO, they didn’t talk it through with him. The doc he has now has an intern working with him. She’s the one who got my FM to agree to the change. Thank goodness!
I hope he continues to engage. I don’t want him to burn out. But that’s a lot to keep up. If he meets the goal of 27 points a week four weeks in a row, he moves up a level and will get more freedoms.

Speaking of that, I’m taking fast food to him for the first time in almost two months! He’s so excited! So am I!

08/03/2026

More good news and a not so good incident.

He has continued with the Friday Disc Golf outings. He really likes it! He has connected with the OT (occupational therapist) who is working with him. I love that the OT blends therapy into the activity.

This OT also started allowing my FM to play video games. Sort of. There is a quiet room at the facility that has a big tv. They go into that room to play games. They use a Nintendo Switch and project it to the TV. Pretty cool! They play for about 30 minutes 1-2 times a week.

These two activities are making a great improvement in my FM! Thank goodness!

When I visited my FM last week, he was a different guy! He typically starts the visits by telling me he’s an alien. Or a Transformer. An angel. A vampire. and on and on. It’s like he has the imagination of a four-year-old. They also believe their fantasies.

He didn’t mention anything about being som**hing/someone else. I asked him to tell me about Disc Golf because I don’t know what it is. I do, but I wanted to hear him explain it. He did! Very well! He described the target basket (or whatever it’s called) and talked about the points system. He was very clear!

Then I asked him about the video game sessions. I thought that maybe it was Call of Duty or other games he likes. I don’t know why I thought that with all the rules they have.

He described the game as an activity in which he plants food, harvests it, and sells it. I know that game! It’s called Farm Town or Farmville or som**hing like that. Great choice! It’s a game that flows and requires choices. He has to takes steps in order to achieve the objective. Brilliant activity for someone so ill. The fact that my FM enjoyed it is awesome. He wouldn’t have been interested in that game before they used it for treatment. Kudos to the OT for engaging him!

Now to the ‘incident’. It happened Saturday morning. I’m not clear about a lot of what happened, but I got enough. Apparently, he got up and had breakfast. Then he went back to the room and laid down on the floor. He prefers lying on the floor, especially when he’s bothered by the spirits.

Staff tried to get him up and out of his room. He didn’t want to. To encourage him, staff told him it was almost time for smoke break. It was actually 30 minutes away. I’m not sure that was a good idea.

He got up after a few more
minutes. He went to the nurse’s station and started pounding on the countertop. He was yelling that he needed a cigarette! Very agitated. A staff member came over to assist him and my FM may have hit him. One nurse told me he did hit the worker and my FM told me he almost hit the guy. The nurse who told me wasn’t there when it happened so I’m not sure. I do know that my kid doesn’t hit. I can’t think of any time that he hurt anyone. Even if someone hurts him, he doesn’t strike back. Like the incident with the patient who put his cigarette out just below my FM’s eye. No reaction. No anger.

The nurse who told me about the incident said he thinks my FM just
misunderstood about the smoking. He thinks maybe my FM thought the staff member told him he couldn’t have a cigarette. My FM told me that the spirits were bothering him a lot, so I can see how he may have misunderstood. Smoking helps him feel better, especially when he’s being ‘tortured’ by the spirits. The thought of missing smoke break would have been very upsetting.

I tried to get more information from the nurse who was on the unit when it happened. We had a bad phone connection and asked me to call him back on his phone. I tried a few times but couldn’t connect. I’m not sure what more I need to know, anyway.

I do know that his psychiatrist increased his dose of Zyprexa from 30mg to 40mg. Maybe that triggered the issue? I don’t know. I emailed the doc to find out.

So that’s what’s been happening. I’m excited about the disc golf and the video games sessions. and the fact that we had a ‘normal’ visit!

07/18/2026

There have been a few things happening in the past couple of weeks. Mostly good things, but a few hiccups. As to be expected.

The incentive plan is not working. At all. He just can't manage to make himself go to groups. I get it. His depression is really bad, perhaps in part due to the increased demand for him to do groups. He does maybe 7 per week. This includes 2-3 showers in the week. We're seeing the opposite effect of what was expected. It's been hard on him, and I see him just giving in and agreeing to whatever they want. Still, he can't do those things.

I've been confused about the group system. So, I had some email back and forth with the administrator. Sometimes it's not easy to communicate via email. But I also like to have a written record of what is discussed. Our recent thread was very difficult. She was vague and I had to keep asking for clarification. That's just me. I need to know answers to what I'm asking, even if it takes several ways of asking my questions.

The main thing I needed to know was what activities were counted as points. It's not only groups. I had to ask for specifically so I'd understand. When she told me he had 'earned' seven points, including 2 showers, I was stunned. I know he goes to workout group three days a week. She said he took two showers and those count as points. I remembered that several months ago I was told that one-to-one meetings with staff counted as points, too. So if that's true, he only met with staff twice that week? Som**hing is off.

I asked her about the CBTp training. She said that was only once a week. She said he'd greet staff when he walked by them but that didn't count as a point. Duh. Of course it wouldn't. Finally, I stopped the back and forth.

A couple days later, I ran into her as I was leaving the facility. She's discouraged that the incentives aren't working, too. I suggested (for the second time) that he might respond to a token economy system. One in which he could see an immediate reward, like a ticket, or a coin, or som**hing tangible that he could exchange for an item at the end of the week. She said she'd think about trying it.

This was good, since she had previously told me they can't do that there because that's not how real life works. They train patients in real-life skills. I don't like that. Creativity is much more valuable. And he may never be in a typical "real life" place. Meet him where he is, right?

I asked her about the tokens a few days later. She said they couldn't give him 'daily treats' and even if they could she didn't think it would motivate him. Wow. She knows the outcome before it happens? (pardon my facetiousness). I corrected her that we hadn't talked about 'treats' but rather tokens he could use at the end of the week. I'm not sure she understands. She says he just needs to try harder.

To me, it seems like he's just too depressed. I email his doctor to ask for a phone call. For years, I've wanted my FM back on Lamictal. He takes Depakote now and has refused Lamictal. Long ago, Lamictal was an amazing med for him. It worked quickly and he was much more clear-headed. We had real conversations! Unfortunately, an inpatient doc changed him from Lamictal to Depakote. My FM has refused to change ever since. He says Depakote is made by aliens, so he HAS to take it.

Thank goodness for this doc! He didn't even wait to have a conversation with me. He sent in an order to switch him to Lamictal right away! He likes the suggestion! My concern, at that point, was how my FM would feel having that med change without being told about it. He could feel betrayed. He could get angry. Who knows. I asked the doc to make sure he was informed and that he agreed. There is a psychiatric intern working with the doctor and she has connected well with my FM. She explained it to him and he agreed! Yes!

On my Wednesday visit with him, the nurse asked for my help. He was refusing his monthly injection, and she thought I might be able to help. I tried, but he refused. He said the shot hurts and he didn't want to take it. That all stems for a time several years ago when a nurse gave him the injection and really did hurt him arm. He had a knot in it for some time after. A few months later, I was doing the injections myself because of his phobia of riding in moving vehicles. When I opened the package, I saw that there was a short needle for the arm and a longer needle for the gluteal muscle. Aha! That nurse used the longer needle in his arm! That's the only possible explanation. Yesterday, he took the shot. Thank goodness!

Also, on the Wednesday visit, we had an impromptu meeting with him clinician. My FM really wants to come home. He doesn't understand why he can't. He gets in this frame of mind every once in a while. I talked with him and listened to him and tried to help him understand. His clinician didn't say much but she listened and interjected a couple of times. I felt good about having her in the meeting so she could get to know how my FM and I communicate. It was very helpful, but he was still very sad that he can't come home yet. I totally understand. But he needs to be much more stable before we get close to that happening.

I asked the clinician how often he receives the CBTp. She said three times a week. I was told he only went once a week. She looked perplexed and said she'd find out. I hope it's three times a week. I don't think once a week could help much. So maybe a communication issue? That is so often an issue with his treatment providers.

There is a rehab physical therapist at this facility. He emailed me earlier this week to see what I thought about him taking my FM with him and a few others to a local park to play frisbee golf. Yes please! He mentioned that my FM would have to do a couple of groups to get the privilege of going on the outing. Come on! It's not a privilege. It's therapy. Treatment.

I jumped the gun on that one. Today, I got an email from the Rehab PT. He took my FM out to the park today. Just the two of them. They talked about motivation to step up the next level. His lack of engagement in groups. And he said they'll be making this a regular weekly thing. Great news! My FM said he really enjoyed it, too. Nice!

So, mostly good things. Med change that I'm very optimistic about. An outing to a park! Accepting his injection. Lots of wins!

07/03/2026

I’m be been thinking a lot since my last post. Jeffery L. Hayden mentioned a social skills training (SST) for schizophrenia. I can’t find the study he told me about but I found other studies that are relatively old. What I am finding is this program looks good. It’s a missing part of most programs in place today to help our FMs.

The most recent study I saw was done in 2015. It demonstrated that SST was effective in improving communication and social skills, confidence, and reducing the severity of symptoms.

Makes sense, so why don’t we do it? I know my FM would benefit from this type of treatment.

I also found that SST is sometimes offered on an online format, not only in person.

When my FM first became ill, he was enrolled in a first-episode program. Within that program was a computer-based training activity. It sounded excellent and he was interested. Plus, it paid $50 per session. That’s probably why he was interested. 😜

The problem with that, for him at that time, was that they tested for ma*****na prior to the session. The data would be skewed if he were under the influence. But he was newly diagnosed. He wasn’t ready to give up w**d. So he didn’t do the program.

In hindsight, I wish he had. I believe it would have made a huge difference in his progress.

Groups are boring to him. He’s not interested in what they talk about. But he’d be interested in doing computer-based activities. Again, why isn’t this available?

I also recalled that the purpose of this facility is to retrain life skills in patients who have lost the skills due to the illness. I’m curious about how the groups they offer would help with that. I tried to get a list once, but failed. I know they he goes to a workout group, which he loves. As I was leaving yesterday, a game group was starting (Jeopardy). They have a morning meeting every day in which staff goes over the groups and activities for that day. I wish he’d do that group, at the very least.

I’m finding that not all the activities count toward his points for the week. Last week, he had 9 points. Three of those were showers. Three were workout group. Maybe he attended three other groups, but that seems low.

I have a feeling they aren’t including meetings with his psychiatrist, clinician, other rehab specialist, etc. He must have done more than the 9 points reflect.

Time to get more details.

07/01/2026

The incentive plan isn’t working so well. It started out with him earning 11 points in the first week. Not bad. He earned a soda but not a meal. I remind him about groups when I visit and when we talk on the phone (which is rare). I ask about which groups he attended and what he did. He usually can’t remember. Or says he can’t remember. Bless his heart.

He didn’t hit his goals for the rest of the month. He got 11 points in the first week, twelve the next, then 12, 10, and 9. I see a downward trend. Not good.

We need to reevaluate the schedule. The way it’s written, he has to earn 10-15 points for the first two weeks, then 15-20 points for the next two weeks. Since he’s doing fewer each week, I want him to earn the lower goal two consecutive weeks and then add a higher requirement. To me, that makes sense. Otherwise, how could he be motivated to do more groups when he’s struggling to do the minimum set for him? It needs to change.

The last time I visited (Wednesday) we had a really good visit. I didn’t take my phone in so he had to talk with me. I know he loves religions and spiritualism and otherworldly topics. I brought up a religious topic. I don’t remember which religion or what topic, but he engaged. I’m open with him about my beliefs and ask him questions about things he knows about different spiritualities. We have a real discussion. It’s fun, actually. We can get really deep into it. We learn from each other.

We couldn’t do that with the distraction of the internet. I’m sticking to that limitation. Or dangling it as another incentive. In fact, he did ask if I could bring the phone in the next time. I told him I’d think about it and that if I did, he could only use it for five minutes. But (and this was a big but) he had to meet his weekly goals. I thought that would motivate him. It didn’t. Unfortunately.

He said som**hing I have to share here. It shows how clever he is. He’s always delusional. So, I don’t believe he makes things up. Some of the stuff he says really makes me chuckle. He was telling me he has telekinesis. There was an empty water bottle on the table and he said he could move it with his mind. It didn’t move. I expected him to tell me that it did and that I couldn’t see it because I hadn’t advanced yet. That is what he typically says.

This time, he moved the bottle with his hand. He said he was able to move his hands with his mind, and his hands moved the bottle. I laughed! Couldn’t help myself! He was serious, though. Sometimes we have to find humor in this illness.

It’s so hard to know what to do. I have to rely on staff because he’s with them all day every day. They are responsible for his improvement. I do what I can on the outside and when I visit, but it’s more important for staff to do the work with him. I have doubts, as usual. I hate to, but that’s how it is. No staff will ever be good enough for everything I want for him. And I don’t expect them to. It’s just hard to see him being unable or unmotivated to do anything to help himself. Maybe I expect too much of him. If that’s the case, then we all should work with him on his level, with mini expectations that don’t change until he masters them.

Our monthly meeting with the county was interesting. The administrator wasn’t on the call but his clinician was. We only have 15 minutes for these meetings, so there’s no time to bring up much. I’ve been really concerned about his deep delusions. I know that CBTp (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis) can be helpful with delusions and other symptoms. I asked the clinician if there is anyone there trained to do CBTp. To my surprise, she has two trainees she’s supervising who are doing CBTp with him! He likes it and wants more! This is really good news. If they can keep him motivated to continue, I believe that will help more than any incentives.

My FM has always been more of a visual learner than audio. I don’t think I’d mentioned that to the team in the past. Now that he needs to make sure he goes to groups and earns points, it’s important for them to know that putting things in writing works better than telling him about groups etc. I brought it up with the clinician and she was all over it. I saw her making a note of it and she said she’d make sure the schedule and his progress is written down so he can follow it better. Good stuff!

When he was still home, I kept a yellow legal pad on the kitchen counter. On it, I’d write one or two things I needed him to know that day. I’d ask him to take out the garbage. Or what he wanted for dinner. I encouraged him to reply on the legal pad, too. That way he could do it without forgetting about it later. If I noticed he was having trouble remembering, all I had to do was tell him to look at the notepad. It worked well.

This is an example of why families need to be involved. How would they know if he needs things written down if I didn’t tell them? He couldn’t tell them. So important for families like ours to be involved or at least consulted.

I found this graphic about CBTp. It's exactly what I hope helps my loved one.

06/15/2026

I’m not writing as often as I used to. It seems there’s not much new or not happening as often. Writing catch-up posts seems to work better than frequent posts. This means posts will be longer, most likely.

So. Where did we leave off? He had a ‘job’, of sorts. He wasn’t interested in doing the work they suggested. Did they try som**hing different? No. They just let it be for now.

We had a team meeting in early May. The administrator of the facility was interested in making big changes in his treatment plan. She touched on those changes at the meetings and we planned to talk more the next day.

What her team had talked about was that he needed to take part in his own recovery. I’ve been talking to him about this for several weeks. I tell him that I can’t do things for him that would help him get out sooner. I need him to want to do the work, too. I know that’s hard but it’s necessary.

His main goal is to get out of the facility. He wants to come home. He can’t come home until he graduates from the program. He needs the skills he can learn there if he wants to succeed in the community. It’s necessary, for him and for me.

So, the team plan is to reward him for doing certain things and encourage him to do more. He hasn’t been doing many groups. He tends to isolate in his room, reading and sleeping. The plan now is to incentivize him with fast food. I bring a meal and a drink when I visit once a week. He loves that and really looks forward to the food.

The plan is for me to only bring food if he achieves the goal set for him by the team. If he earns 10 points in a week, I’ll bring him a drink. If he makes it to 15 points, I’ll bring a meal and a drink. He can do this, I’m sure.

My first reaction was why does he need to ‘earn’ a meal for a visit with me? It’s a family visit, not a treatment session. So that threw me off. I felt uncomfortable being placed in that position. It hit me wrong. But in the long run, it has to be done. I have been encouraging him to do groups. And having activities that bring him out of his room so he can learn life skills.

I sat on the situation for a bit and realized that I need to work with the team. It’s a good plan, and I support it. I’m getting older and can’t do as much to help him as I used to. I need him to gain life skills and participate in his future.

The plan is to gradually move incentives higher. The first week, he needs to do 10-15 groups/points. The second week, it goes up to 15-20, the following week requires 20-27.

Twenty-seven points per week is the minimum needed for the program. If he can maintain 27 points for four weeks straight, he moves up to level two. He’ll get more privileges, including being allowed to go on group walks, getting door dash (from the administrator), and maybe an outing with me. That should motivate him!

At least they are working with him and are being fair about it. They have two psychiatry trainees (?) that seem excellent. He likes them. I hope they can help with this plan, too.

His med adjustments are ongoing. The changes are being made gradually. He was very withdrawn during our last visit. He said he had a lot on his mind. I think that’s what he says now when the spirits are bothering him. It’s so hard to have a conversation with him. He’s distracted. Inside his own head. We’re unable to have conversation.

I stopped taking my phone. He would use it to shop and to look up info about aliens, vampires, etc. Those topics feed his delusions. I had to stop. He’s not happy about that, but he’s so delusional. I told him this was going to happen (leaving the phone in the car) and he seems ok with it. I’m sure staff will help with that, too. We all have a common goal: life skills and graduating from the program. Well, that’s the team goal. His goal isn’t the same. But his main goal of coming home can only be met by working with us to achieve his goal.

Of course there will be setbacks. On all sides. He has a frequent delusion that he’s a vampire. It’s harmless but consistent. The admin knows this. She doesn’t want his delusions to be reinforced or triggered. I agree. My FM called me a couple of days ago. He told me he’s a lycanthrope (werewolf) now. Alrighty. I asked him where he learned about werewolves.

They played the movie Twilight for the residents. This is why he assumed the delusion of being a werewolf. That was not a good film choice for my FM. I have to shake my head. Sigh.

In his first week on this plan, he achieved 11 points. That’s pretty good and he met the requirement of 10 points. He earned a soda. He seemed ok with that. He asked about the food, and I reminded him he didn’t get enough points for a meal, but that he can do it for the next visit. I know he likes Vitamin Water, so I asked him if that’s what he’d like me to bring him. He was happy because he hadn’t had one in a while. He called me a couple of times before our visit to make sure that I’d bring him vitamin water. He was excited! That tells me the incentive might work.

His points come out every Tuesday. I hope he makes it this week. I’m pretty sure the requirement increases each week, so he needs to progress.

Wish him luck! Send him good thoughts!