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Christmas morning at our Crisis Program

Bass has been coming to our Crisis Program on and off for a couple of years when he needs support. His stays are normally short, no more than a week. This time around he ended up staying with us during the Christmas holiday.

On Christmas day, Bass was given his Christmas Backpack filled with essentials and treats. While he opened it up while all the staff including me watched him. He slowly unpacked it, taking the items out one by one. He paused, looked at one gift and moved on to the next. After unpacking everything he put everything back into the backpack and headed into his room.

This behavior was quite typical of Bass, he has never really been expressive, and often does not say much. At this point it was still early in the morning around 8:15am. All the staff were in the living room putting up stockings for the youth.

Bass came out of his room with a green t-shirt with a red stripe across the chest. He came into the living room and sat down on the couch. Then Bass abruptly spoke, “I know I’ve been told that I don’t show emotions well. People always tell me that I have this face, but I want to let you guys know that I am really happy.”

All the staff just looked at each other in complete shock. We had never heard Bass express emotions before and it was rare to hear him express gratitude. All of our faces lit up with big smiles and we were speechless. Bass then grinned and hurried back into his room. 

Shared by James, Youth Worker at our Crisis Program