Built For This

The mental health profession is a pretty tough and thankless job; but every now and then we get a glimpse of appreciativeness and it feels good.
Recently, I was assigned to council a student that almost everyone had threw their hands up with and given up on. I understood why, because this particular kid had more issues that a year long subscription to a bi-weekly magazine. The student and I were working well until the challenging became too uncomfortable for the student and they decided to cut and run. In the students attempts to remove our counseling sessions, the went home and their parents that I had suggested that dropping out of school was the best option and success wasn't in the future. Being a master of manipulation, the parents believe the untrue story and were very upset with me. They scheduled a meeting. It was myself, a principal, a guidance counselor, the parents, and the student. Tension ran thick in the room. Once talk of the students future, what I actually said, and the problems at home were brought up; everything spun out of control. Profanity was flying, people were jumping up out of their chairs, and threats of violence littered the room. It was a this time that everything seemed to slow down for me. It was just like pro athletes say when the game slows down for them and they feel in complete control. It was like I could see all of their pain and pin point exactly were it was coming from. In between out burst I interjected enough to make the next outburst less violent and explosive; until eventually we talking to each other in stead of screaming. Then they eventually stopped talking and started listening. Then they started crying; and the door was cracked enough for them to remember each other and what a family is supposed like, act, and feel like. I didn't heal them or cure the families ailments in a hour and a half, but I did my job. I lead a stubborn, obstinate, legless, EXTREMELY thirsty horse to water. It isn't my job to make him drink.
At my job I take a lot of flack from people who say I'm never there (In actually I'm all over the building everyday I'm scheduled to be), I never call the kids down when they want me to (I see my kids an average of once a week unless the is a legitimate crisis), I'm not available to enough kids (believe it or not, some kids grow up in a healthy home), and my favorite; I'm too nice to the kids and I try to be their friends. (Only idiots with no real grasp of counseling, human development or the human condition would say or believe this) Despite all my detractors, and distractions; I know I'm built for this. I know that no one on earth can do my job better than me, and I make a difference whether I see it immediately or not. So for those who want to critique my job and the specifics of what it actually is I do all day; know this, negativity doesn't exist for me. Only Positivity and Motivation lives in my mind. I ain't mad at you. Sometimes criticism is the only way a desperate person can attach themselves or feel a part of something special; but that's just my opinion though, and who the hell am I?