Originally Posted by
Scott R
I work at a group home and deal with this sort of thing every day first you need to find out if he has a guardian or he is his own guardian. The guardian will have all the info you will need that's were you need to start. If he is his own guardian then he can sign a waiver for himself and the rest is in your hands. Calling his sister would not be a breach of his confidentiality to make a long story short he volunteered the information and it's no different from calling my sister and asking about me. Call me if you want more info or have questions.
I agree with Scott. Call the sister, speak to an attorney, read up on it and see if you feel you can do it. But no matter what you decide, don't be to hard on the guy for lieing. I don't know his history or disability, but he has probably suffered a lot of emotional trauma, probably has abandonment issues, and probably gets confused. Add that to a mental disability and you can see why he might lie to be accepted. I am in a small town, you box and roll, get a reputation and he wants to be a part of it, to be associated with it. Probably figures it will make people leave him alone and or respect him...he hasn't the coping skills you and I might have.
It sounds like you are on the right path. Control, as your hb guy told you, will be an issue. Make sure you are ready, a guy in a blind panic who is strong is hard to control. But I'm sure you know that. Basic emergency medicine, cpr, first responder stuff, should be learned by anyone teaching. If you can't take a course look the stuff up online, it may save a life and is for sure worth your time.
This is the thing, everyone you ever teach takes a part of you. And often you a part of them, thats the trade, the agreement. When you help someone who has a lot of issues it takes more of you, sometimes a lot more and sometimes more than you have to give. That being said, the reward can be just as great, and you may get more. But it takes a lot of time and effort. If you have the time, if it all seems worth it to you, do it. If not, thats ok to, its ok to have boundries but only you know what they are and only you can enforce them.
Hope this helps, sorry it turned into a lecture. This should be fun, not stress. Whatever you do make sure its still fun.
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