rancitas

Thank you for your post. What a horrible story. I am very sorry that your friends were the victim of such negligence.

I am proud of my commitment to people with mental health problems and their families (and other loved ones).

I am also pleased to say that 90% of mental health professionals I have worked alongside have been as dedicated as myself. The other 10% are usually into power and control, and have no empathy - let alone compassion. Sadly that is the real world. But I can say even worse for aged care. In my last position I was apalled by the way that our senior citizens were treated by most nurses and doctors. It was as if they were an irritating lump of baggage. Thank God that I no longer work in that field. There are always excuses. But there is no valid reason for blatant patient/client abuse - and that's what it is, bloody abuse!

I can't talk about it any more. Makes me ashamed to be a health professional.

Cheers
Kay

PS - and it's on the cards that it will get much worse before there is a turn in the fork of the road.

Kalweb, I think it was remiss of me not to mention all the very supportive, professional and helpful people who have assisted us through this crisis (seven years and continuing). We think and hope that the worst is over. It is easy to let the anger at this treatment and situation blind one (that was only a bit of it) to all the good, caring workers in the system. They need and deserve support.

The suggestions I make would not last one second in the mind of a politician - too expensive.

Keep 'em separated. Youngsters picked up by the cops and dumped at mental wards need to be kept away from drug-induced mentally ill. Group gatherings such as CBT need to be reconsidered as do any group activity. This is where the kids can get their drugs. Some people who are border-line mental cases usually from resolvable stresses/issues of some sort are easily influenced by older scamming types. I know of one fellow who used to follow his girlfriend to CBT to score. I know one girl who never touched drugs and was introduced to them (speed)while in the care of the hospital. When we alerted the staff to this no action was taken by the hierarchy. The person dealing the drugs was mentally ill himself. Staff were outraged but what could they do?

Also, I tend to think that kids need to be with normal people to get an idea of appropriate behaviour. My friend made huge improvements when she started mixing with the local youth group mob (Christian). She also has a male friend who is interested in her for her own sake(nearly all men are predatory bastards).

I don't regard our situation as hardcore. There are plenty of people in the system and pre-system who are neglected and have had far worse treatment by virtue of the fact that they are on their own - abandoned. On the other hand, I acknowledge that there are caring health care workers who do what they can with what they have.