I went to the mental hospital in Shawnee and just came back, and oh dear LORD the issues are just astounding.
First off, I told them of my preferred name when I first arrived, and they put it in my profile. Alright, no issue. Except, I had to then tell every single staff member who saw me since what my preferred name was. Either the staff weren't actually looking at my profile, or the profile didn't even have my preferred name on there, OR my name was on there but wasn't noticeable or even hidden for some reason. Either way, I know that misgendering and deadnaming are 2 of the main causes of suicides in teens in the US, so I feel like an institute that focus on mental health should know that and take precautions against it.
Number 2. I brought all that up with the lady who seemed to be in charge, it was my first time seeing her and she was part of the treatment team who discharged me. She couldn't have seemed less interested in what I had to say. That just doesn't sit right with me and got me thinking about all the other things I noticed about the place.
3. They got me started on a new medication, but all I knew about it was the pill was red, it had a really hard to pronounce name, and I took it twice a day. The singular nurse there never told me what it did, any common side effects, why they wanted me to take it, nothin. I only found out what it's for and the side effects today as I was leaving. It's for seizures, but I've never had one in my life.
4. I was only there for 5 days. I'm no expert, but it generally takes a lot longer than 5 days to make sure a new medicine is working properly, especially one that has serious possible side effects like *causing* seizures, making my already severe depression worse, or making me bleed/worsening my immune system, which means I'd be more likely to get sick.
5. The staff there sucked. They seemed like genuine people, and were really nice, but there were moments when they didn't seem to know what they were doing. It was small things, such as confusing one client for another or forgetting to keep watch over us. If I had a question about something, the common answer was "I wouldn't know about that, you should talk to the treatment team/nurse about that". Naturally, I only got to see the treatment team twice. Once when I first arrived and once when I left.
6. Either there was a horrible lack of communication or the staff were purposely trying to hide information, but I noticed a few inconsistencies in information. For example, one staff told me that I was required to be there for about 120 business hours, but a different staff told another client 72. Not a big deal, that client was probably there for a different reason than me. One client was told that the other side of the building was for long term patients, but when I had asked the staff about being put in long term care, they said long term mental facilities for adults don't exist in Oklahoma. They also told me when I asked why I only got a reclining chair and not a bed that the area I was in was just the overflow and the clients who were there before me got the room with the beds.
7. Finally, I find this one quite alarming. There was this client here, I don't know what their problem was, but they were super aggitated and always mumbling about random things. I overheard the staff saying they were gonna send them home today because they didn't have the resources to help him. I'm sorry, they what?? If they knew they didn't have the resources to help him, why did they take him anyways? Their answer? "Where else could he go?" Oh, I don't know, maybe somewhere that could actually help him and not stand around while he threw stuff and yelled, giving mutliple clients including me an anxiety attack? They care so much about possibly triggering others when it comes to what we watch on tv and not being allowed to listen to music (my main coping mechanism btw), but when it comes to a client having a violent outburst right next to someone with severe anxiety and trauma, oh, it's fine, we'll wait until he's calm