I'll have to admit, I see myself as a 'town' boy, too accustomed to the urban lifestyle; to the extent that if I don't get to use my computer for 24 hours, I reckon I might suffer terrible withdrawal reactions. So doing this current placement for 3 months (beginning May) has been abit shaky for me to say the least.
Firstly, the travel; if there was a nice windy and scenic route to Shepparton, I wouldn't be complaining. The trouble is it's so uninteresting and uninspiring to have to haul my behind up early on a Monday morning (before 6am, when all is dark) and drive up a freeway on cruise control almost all of 180km to get there. And then comes the return trip on Thursday (shortly to be changed to Friday, even WORSE). Though it's a shorter trip (distance-wise) as I start from Seymour (about 100 km to get to Melbourne), the time taken is almost equivalent because of the traffic once I get into Melbourne. And I'll have to tip my hat off to those truckers who drive inter-state for a living; no wonder they need amphetamines to keep their drive interesting (more so than to drive whilst awake in my view :P)
Then comes the part of the accommodation; I have no qualms about the house that the hospital has provided (quite basic, but does the job), but when you talk about WINTER months, you'd expect some form of heating to stave off frostbites etc. (ok, abit of exaggeration) Let me paint you a picture, it is a 3 bedroom house, with NO central heating, only gas heating (from a standalone wall unit in the living room) Now if I was an Alaskan or Canadian (no insults intended) I would be pretty comfortable with that type of heating. So could you imagine when I have to sleep in the bedroom (with only a portable heater that I have to haul up there from Melbourne) ice-cold every night, half of the week? I have resorted to putting the mattress in the living area, just so that I wouldn't suffer hypothermia every night :P
And the other obvious sticking point: NO broadband or any form of internet access; that's really such a bummer. I don't get to see my baby online; and have to resort to good old phone call, which makes me sound like a zombie on the phone (that's what she says :P) I can't correspond as much; can't download and leech files (that's my part-time job)
Don't get me wrong, I like the team that I've been working with; both in-patient and out-patient settings. They adopt a slightly different model of practice from urban mental health practice; it is an integrative team, whereby the patients are followed through admission to case management, so there's more continuity of care and consistency for the patient to develop a better therapeutic relationship with their case managers. They also do alot more of primary mental health liaisons, dealing with depression and anxiety disorders quite frequently, giving some supports to the GP and psychologists. The staff are very experienced, and are very sensible in asking for advise or reviews where they have some uncertainties particularly with regards to medications.
I still have about a month to go with this attachment; in terms of the experience working with the team it's been great; obviously it would be more pleasant if the above problems of travel and logistics were just addressed abit better. I wouldn't really recommend Shepparton as a place to stay long-term; there really isn't much there to do, apart from fruit picking around regional parts of it. Though one of the restaurants that I tried when Christine was here was an excellent Italian restaurant - if you get the chance, go to cellar 47, which is on high street of Shepparton itself.
Above pics are taken in the accommodation when Christine came over early June (the twelve string guitar to take away the blues :P; used to also play for Christine during her birthday during this trip)
