Simply Op

I was evaluating a teenage patient for Autism today. He was a cool kid with a lot of thoughts and a lot of stories! He reportedly hates math; when they started adding letters to the numbers, apparently that is when it became too much, lol. One of the assessment prompts asks the teen if they have ever felt lonely. The teen looked at me and gave an honest, “Yes (often).” He was a chatty fellow and quickly shared more about his experience with loneliness, friendship, and peer interactions at school. I am not going to expand, but I will say that kids can be mean and relationships can be hard to navigate at any stage of life. Nearing the end of the assessment period, he said, “I hope to have a friend like you, who does stuff like this and just listens.” In my head, I was thinking (me too, kid, me too). I just met this teen today. My heart melted – evidence of established rapport. It also ached because I would be his friend (if I could)! He cracked me up. He needs friend therapy…NOT a therapy to alter who he is. I have been holding onto that moment all day because the solution to loneliness should not be so hard; we all crave attention, someone to be there with us, and someone to listen. And for whatever reason, finding the right people to hold those spaces for us is not always easy. It saddens me that it takes seeking a diagnosis or deficits to find avenues of support. Whether this teen has Autism or not, I do not really care. What I care about is his well-being and that he feels seen, loved, accepted, and understood! ❤

#JustListen
#JustBeThere
#JustCare