nazca posted:

My "Mental health professional" friend gave me a friendly referral to a crisis stabilization unit close to where I live. This is a state program that I never knew existed. They are self described as an urgent care for mental health. One of the girls that came over the other night, who is a mutual friend of the "Mental health professional" offered to go with me.

I was absolutely terrified of going for fear of being hospitalized or placed on the 5150 hold, and made this known to my friend. She, of course, gave the advice that if you need to be hospitalized it's the best thing, but being smart, she realized that if I thought I would be hospitalized I wouldn't go. So, she simply said they won't hospitalize you if they don't think you are going to hurt yourself or others. So when you go, "you have thoughts of suicide, but no means, no plan, and no intent." So I went with that plan.

It took me forever to walk through the front doors. When I did finally go in and speak with somebody, one of the first things he said was "We can only keep you for 24 hours." This made me pretty anxious as it's the opposite of what I wanted to do there. I only wanted to start on a path to healthiness. As I learned more about the place, I realized they get a lot of homeless type people that want to use their services for as long as possible. If you chose to stay for the full 24 hours, you get a shower, a meal, a bed, and some one to talk to. I was even offered food while I was there. People in need apparently abuse it as much as possible, making the nurses and counselors guarded about the fact that you can't stay for longer than 24 hours. It's kind of a sad thing, but they can't fulfill their mission as a "Mental health urgent care" if they don't enforce the 24 hour limit. They didn't need to enforce the 24 hour limit on me, I wanted out of there as fast as possible, but they didn't know that yet.

While in the waiting room another man came in seeking help. He was carrying a large zip lock bag of 20 different types of prescription pill bottles. All he wanted was for them to watch him sleep. He hadn't slept in 4 days because he was fearful for his own safety. I don't know the whole story, but I can only imagine it was a hallucination. They took him inside and that was the last I saw of him. If it hadn't been for my escort I likely would have walked out right then and there. The anxiety I felt being grouped with that man was overwhelming. We have different problems, but I just wanted out. My escort stayed with me.

Once inside, the place was kind of hospital like with nurses and doctors. I was able to see a psychiatrist, a nurse who did a urinalysis and took vitals, and spend time with the counselor. The counselor was a nice man, and he certainly tried his best. The nurse I dealt with was nice as well but just did some routine work. The psychiatrist was doctor like but spent time talking to me in what they called a "psych eval." This consisted of him asking me questions about myself such as my ability to concentrate and sleep.

Once done, the doctor wrote a 30 day prescription for some medication and passed me along to a California social worker who referred me to some therapists for continued treatment and prescriptions.

Then they let me go. The whole experience didn't cost a single dollar until I had to purchase the medication.

This is an amazing program that I never would have been able to even learn about if it hadn't been for my unique connection to a mental health professional. They should teach about this in high school.

So now I have some meds and am restarting.