A feel good application

Yesterday I had the pleasure of helping one of our client's find housing. As some of you know this task can be filled with stress and anxiety if we do not let our negative thoughts go. One of the key components in recovery is finding suitable housing for the client. The place they call home can be a positive affirmation that resonates daily. Finding housing can be very challenging at times. There are absurd application fee's, back ground check fee's, double deposits, you all know the fee stuff! It can be very expensive and time consuming. Self really needs to stay in their health, and not make things bigger. The story continues as we found a potential housing community for this client, which appears to be a safe, relaxing, and affordable nest with beautiful views. We take the tour, the client appears to really being enjoying the opportunity to find her digs, and her own independence. We were fortunate to have a wonderful leasing representative who made the tour fun and enjoyable. Sitting down in her office we then get the numbers, ouch, there were added fee's that as the client looked at me, and I looked at her, we shared the same disbelief look! Our vivacious leasing representative, appeared to have this plan, or actually a game where we could lower the fee's. The unique game involved a bean bag, (three of them) and a wooden box 15 feet away in the galley office, where this special promotion suggested that the "lucky" contestant would and could for each bean bag thrown perfectly in the small hole, 15 feet away, could get their fee's waved with each bean bag going in the hole! My poor client, is looking at me, really Tod, how am I going to do this. Then it hit me! My addiction specialist powers were being called upon from up above, trying to remember desperately where I gleaned this skill in my clinical training, or intern, or shadowing, nope, that skill was never gleaned in my academic training. So I reached deep, down in my positive energy tool box. I respectfully walked over to the hole and dropped the bean bag first in it, to make sure it was not rigged. Come on now, I was a carny game player too in county fairs back in the day! It was all good. I looked at my client, she did not have the extra $ to be putting down on all these fees! First throw, boom baby, right in the hole. The leasing agent jumped up, and shouted no $40.00 application fee. The second throw boom baby, right in the center, pure swish. The leasing agent now kind of frowned, and said no $100.00 administration fee! The final throw, a "Dan Marino" throw I might add, boom, right in the middle. Our leasing agent, then goes wow, unbelievable, that has never been done! All fee's waved for your client. Stay in your health, stay in the moment.