Power that seemed a curse can become a gift. People who were once successful only at hurting themselves can become successful in sorting out their lives. It doesn’t work to try to dominate and control a powerful person—this just leads to fights that make the patient feel like a caged animal.
The model that works best comes from judo. Redirect the patient’s destructive power into constructive power. Join with the patient and slowly find ways in which [they] can use [their] power to realize dreams, instead of creating nightmares.
This requires time, patience, and not being afraid of their forcefulness. It requires trust and hope.
I wasn’t planning on doing anything for MerMay, but then (because I have Discworld on the brain right now) I was struck with the idea of how useful a mermaid officer would be to the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, so here’s a last minute contribution. She’d have to be pretty brave to risk swimming in the Ankh every day, but maybe with an aquatic officer backing them up the River Division would manage to keep their boat afloat for more than a day at a time! I don’t know if there actually are mermaids on the Disc, but I based her design on a river dolphin and figured a boat hook would be more handy than a truncheon. I don’t know what to name her, though. Thoughts?
cucumber-s
