At one point in 7th grade I was hospitalized and put into a psych institution for mental health and poor school attendance. Because I was so young i was dropped into a place that was more of a prison/juvie instead of a hospital/treatment facility, and the staff reflected that. They were pretty insensitive and said things that most people would shake off but would be crushing to somebody extremely depressed. For example I said I was sad and wanted to talk to somebody, I was told to journal and bring it back to discuss it. After showing them my journal the first thing they said is “what is this? Chicken scratch?”. Again for context this was to a depressed, 12 year old boy whose parents, family and home were being torn apart by a vicious divorce.
That’s not even the worst of it, just an example of those who worked there. The real haunting experience happened like this.
They would let the kids play outside as a break and would pat them down and use a metal detector when reentering the building to make sure they didn’t sneak anything inside. This one employee decided to play a trick on me. He scanned my back where I couldn’t see and suddenly the detector beeped. He started getting angry saying “Yo what is this, what you got here?”. He told me to take off my jacket. It beeped again as he scanned a second time.
After that he started threatening and accusing me. Saying things like “what the hell are you tryna pull dude” “have you ever been put down before?” “You seriously tryna get detained dude?”. I was mortified because I had no idea what was happening and I thought these guys were gonna crush me, because another staff member playing along started cracking his knuckles and his neck while staring threateningly at me. As I started to break down crying and sobbing the guy, no shit, pulled a “just a prank bro” and told me “I was just playing damn, why you getting so worked up?”
Some of the other kids that were used to this (they were pretty similar to the staff) told them off saying that was fucked up.
This was all about 6 years ago but I am still mortified by metal detectors body scanners and general security procedures.
Haha my parents were actually rich and we lived in a really rich town, the hospital was horrifically mismanaged, frankly most of the children’s psychiatric hospitals were horrifically mismanaged and caught up in some form of bureaucracy.
A girl I met told me that at another hospital they threatened to withdraw her medication if she told anyone about a certain event that happened. Additionally if a kid was ever detained the staff would make all the other kids watch. She was also SA’d by another kid and they didn’t care.
If you are ever a parent and you child needs mental health treatment DIG DEEP. It’s seriously important they aren’t sent to these “sick jails” that will fuck them up even more.
Anyway my psycho parents got caught up in a brutal divorce and lost much of their fortunes. You reap what you sow I suppose.
Yeah I don’t know. Everywhere I’ve lived in the US you couldn’t even get institutionalized in a shitty facility unless you have insurance that will cover it or money to pay for it. They send people who need mental help out into the population because they are poor. Kids with emotional problems get ignored and shoot up their schools. But what do I know, I’m utterly naive.
At one point in 7th grade I was hospitalized and put into a psych institution for mental health and poor school attendance. Because I was so young i was dropped into a place that was more of a prison/juvie instead of a hospital/treatment facility, and the staff reflected that. They were pretty insensitive and said things that most people would shake off but would be crushing to somebody extremely depressed. For example I said I was sad and wanted to talk to somebody, I was told to journal and bring it back to discuss it. After showing them my journal the first thing they said is “what is this? Chicken scratch?”. Again for context this was to a depressed, 12 year old boy whose parents, family and home were being torn apart by a vicious divorce.
That’s not even the worst of it, just an example of those who worked there. The real haunting experience happened like this.
They would let the kids play outside as a break and would pat them down and use a metal detector when reentering the building to make sure they didn’t sneak anything inside. This one employee decided to play a trick on me. He scanned my back where I couldn’t see and suddenly the detector beeped. He started getting angry saying “Yo what is this, what you got here?”. He told me to take off my jacket. It beeped again as he scanned a second time.
After that he started threatening and accusing me. Saying things like “what the hell are you tryna pull dude” “have you ever been put down before?” “You seriously tryna get detained dude?”. I was mortified because I had no idea what was happening and I thought these guys were gonna crush me, because another staff member playing along started cracking his knuckles and his neck while staring threateningly at me. As I started to break down crying and sobbing the guy, no shit, pulled a “just a prank bro” and told me “I was just playing damn, why you getting so worked up?”
Some of the other kids that were used to this (they were pretty similar to the staff) told them off saying that was fucked up.
This was all about 6 years ago but I am still mortified by metal detectors body scanners and general security procedures.
Damn what country is this? Can’t be the USA cause we don’t have mental health care.
Sorry…you did not deserve this friend
USA lmao. New England specifically, which actually has very good healthcare and is arguably the most developed region of the US .
Cool that’s awesome that you have good healthcare in New England.
There is good health care, and New England does have top tier care.
If you can afford it.
It doesn’t sound like OP had access to that kind of health care.
Haha my parents were actually rich and we lived in a really rich town, the hospital was horrifically mismanaged, frankly most of the children’s psychiatric hospitals were horrifically mismanaged and caught up in some form of bureaucracy.
A girl I met told me that at another hospital they threatened to withdraw her medication if she told anyone about a certain event that happened. Additionally if a kid was ever detained the staff would make all the other kids watch. She was also SA’d by another kid and they didn’t care.
If you are ever a parent and you child needs mental health treatment DIG DEEP. It’s seriously important they aren’t sent to these “sick jails” that will fuck them up even more.
Anyway my psycho parents got caught up in a brutal divorce and lost much of their fortunes. You reap what you sow I suppose.
You’re utterly naive. I don’t want to be mean but this is what we want as a country. Guess you never noticed before.
I’m not sure what you’re saying.
I think they’re saying the US wants freedom, including the freedom to be exploited and not even get healthcare for it.
Yeah I don’t know. Everywhere I’ve lived in the US you couldn’t even get institutionalized in a shitty facility unless you have insurance that will cover it or money to pay for it. They send people who need mental help out into the population because they are poor. Kids with emotional problems get ignored and shoot up their schools. But what do I know, I’m utterly naive.