Not a good day....
Got a call this morning from the mobile therapist for a 17 year old girl who is one of my consumers.
a little background, girl in question had attempted suicide last month by taking 25 500mg Tylenol, as she was distraugh over a romantic encounter gone bad.
This morning, her mobile therapist calls me and tells me she is concerned for her safety,she is on her way to the house. Apparently, girls custodial guardian ("mom" for all intents an purposes, but who doesn't impress me at all) called her and told her that the girl and her had words last night, culminating in the girl stomping off up to her room and baracading herself in. Mom awoke this morning to three notes, one of wich said "I cut my wrists." Mom gained entry into the room, and found the girl with some superficial cut wounds on one wrist. The girl refused to go to school this morning, so the MOM LEFT AND WENT TO WORK!!! So, the therapist tells me she is extremely concerned, and wants to know if I will go the house with her, so that, in her words "if we find her dead I don't want to be alone."
We meet at the house and knock, no answer. "Mom" tells us to go right in, the door is unlocked. We go in and call he girl, who does not answer. We walk up to her bedroom, to find the door closed, and several notes left outside the door, saying things like "I don't want to be here anymore," and "you'll be sorry whe I'm gone," etc. My heart is pounding at this time in fear of what is on the other side of the door. We open the door to find her laying on her bed with cuts to both her wrists, not anything life threatening, again whatyou would call superficial, bt with intent obviously. I would cal it "cutting." She refused to go with us to the hospital voluntarilly, so I had to "302" her, basically an involuntary admission to the psych unit.
She's a good kid, he just had a really crappy childhood, no real guidance. She wants to do good, but is extremely impulse-driven, plus mildly mentally retarded. She might have been okay, but as I am not a mental health professional, I did not feel qualified to make that call. Heck, even her therapist wasn't able to make that call.
I feel bad for her being in the unit, bt I did not see any other alterntive that I could have lived with, should the worse case scenario played out.
Sorry for the long post, I just neded to vent....
a little background, girl in question had attempted suicide last month by taking 25 500mg Tylenol, as she was distraugh over a romantic encounter gone bad.
This morning, her mobile therapist calls me and tells me she is concerned for her safety,she is on her way to the house. Apparently, girls custodial guardian ("mom" for all intents an purposes, but who doesn't impress me at all) called her and told her that the girl and her had words last night, culminating in the girl stomping off up to her room and baracading herself in. Mom awoke this morning to three notes, one of wich said "I cut my wrists." Mom gained entry into the room, and found the girl with some superficial cut wounds on one wrist. The girl refused to go to school this morning, so the MOM LEFT AND WENT TO WORK!!! So, the therapist tells me she is extremely concerned, and wants to know if I will go the house with her, so that, in her words "if we find her dead I don't want to be alone."
We meet at the house and knock, no answer. "Mom" tells us to go right in, the door is unlocked. We go in and call he girl, who does not answer. We walk up to her bedroom, to find the door closed, and several notes left outside the door, saying things like "I don't want to be here anymore," and "you'll be sorry whe I'm gone," etc. My heart is pounding at this time in fear of what is on the other side of the door. We open the door to find her laying on her bed with cuts to both her wrists, not anything life threatening, again whatyou would call superficial, bt with intent obviously. I would cal it "cutting." She refused to go with us to the hospital voluntarilly, so I had to "302" her, basically an involuntary admission to the psych unit.
She's a good kid, he just had a really crappy childhood, no real guidance. She wants to do good, but is extremely impulse-driven, plus mildly mentally retarded. She might have been okay, but as I am not a mental health professional, I did not feel qualified to make that call. Heck, even her therapist wasn't able to make that call.
I feel bad for her being in the unit, bt I did not see any other alterntive that I could have lived with, should the worse case scenario played out.
Sorry for the long post, I just neded to vent....
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Actually, maybe it was a good day.....could have been worse....I was just thinking about it from the "my stress" perspective....
There, I feel somewhat better now!
I just neded to vent...
Thanks!0 -
Andrea...... You did the right thing by having her committed.... how long is it good for?
Here in Calif its called a 5150 WIC (Welfare and Institutions Code) and is good for 72 hrs for psych evaluation. Hopefully she can get some help.
The cuts on her wrists were not with "intent" to commit suicide, they were to "get attention". If she "really" wanted to die, she would have done it right.
Hope things work out for her.0 -
Yep, you did the right thing. Down here in Florida its called a Baker Act, and its good for 72 hours. 0 -
Commitment is for at least 5 days, but if she behaves herself and tells the hospital folk what they want to hear, she could be out in three.
Yes, Lardo, likely it was just for attention, but she is so impulsive we were afraid. As it was, all we could think of was she was so desprerate for attention that if she had gotten a bad phone call, or called a friend who told her not to call them, they could not talk, whe might have done the deed for real...0 -
I have a theory that most teenage suicides are botched attempted suicides. You did the right thing because you never know when a 17 year old will botch an attempt and actually get it done. It seems like the therapist should have been the one to make the call and take her in. Could it be she is having you do her job? 0 -
Does this girl have a balanced diet? If not then let the mental health people know. 0 -
I though so, too, James RK. I also thought "mom" should have been involved, too, but she declined. "Mom" is cutting her loose when she turns 18, which is next week. Also the same time she looses access to her benefits, coincidentally. 0 -
Way to go Andrea!
Let us know how it all plays out.0 -
Good work. I don't envy you in your job. But I'm glad somebody's doing it! 0
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