Santa Cruz Mental Health Carelessness

Santa Cruz Mental Health Carelessness

The following letter has been modified to remove all personal names:

Dear NAMI Santa Cruz County,

First of all, I want to thank you for your nice card and the information about S.F. workshops.

I am writing to you with the hope that you can help to find the way to make a difference in some matters that afflict me. I can see all the good work NAMI is doing in different areas trying to improve the conditions of the mentally ill. For that reason I feel compelled to tell you what happened in certain situations that , in my opinion, are very damaging to them [the mentally ill].

To give you a specific example, my son was transferred from Crestwood to Rose Acres last week. He was doing well when my daughter and I visited him. He played basketball and asked for a baseball glove, and a skateboard to go to the store. Things were going well, in the process of improvement. Yesterday I bought the skateboard and my daughter and I were planning to go today to Felton Park near Rose Acres with my son and give the skateboard to him.

In the meantime, his coordinator called me to inform me that my son had a doctor's appointment and that a staff member would drive him. In the middle of the afternoon I called to talk with my son and they told me he was at Dominican Hospital. I called the office to ask what had happened. They told me that my son was at the doctor's office with his coordinator and the staff member of Rose Acres. Then she began to complain about my son not following the rules regarding non-smoking in the room. My son got upset and walked away from the doctor's office. The doctor called the police. The police picked him up and took him to jail. Immediately after, they changed their mind and released him to Dominican Hospital [Mental Health], where he is now.

When I heard this, I put the skateboard in the closet and cried. But the point I am trying to make is not how I feel. What is important is to detect the irresponsible, inconsistent, and careless way mental health representatives are acting. They place a mentally ill person in a locked facility (for 3 months). Without any confirmation or proof that he is ready for the next move, they transfer him to a boarding care, promise him a bus pass, and he can go wherever he wishes until 11 p.m. He takes medication and he can smoke. Now, he doesn't understand why he is at the hospital, when he just had the right of freedom and suddenly is brought back to point zero. He feels his efforts were worthless.

It is an incredible waste to work so hard to obtain minimal improvement and then make a decision that ignores all those efforts. There is also a matter of trust. Every time my son will have to see the doctor he will feel fear. He'll think, "Will they call the police again?" Aren't the Mental Health people aware of this or are they not taking into consideration "the human being" and the symptoms of the illness? In a certain way, they punish the mentally ill for breaking any minimal rule. (Can they really comprehend rules and act according to them?) How about to show them appreciation for any improvement, and understanding and compassion with some mistakes?

Now my son is deprived of his freedom again in a locked facility (hospital), unable to change his clothes (they are in Rose Acres), unable to smoke. Until when he will stay there? We don't know, because during the weekend nobody answers calls. Naturally, he can become angry, he could act violently, he could go backwards in his process of improvement and, who is responsible for that? Who takes care of the damage inflicted on that human life? Who is being careless, indifferent, or ignorant of the consequences of this behavior?

I don't see that this is right. I see great unfairness... What can be done?

I hope the voices of responsible and caring people cry out with the purpose of making a difference. There are many lectures, very positive learning materials available, and different ways to increase our knowledge of the mentally ill. But we also need action, a deeper change from the roots, on those specific areas where we can see the wrong way in which decisions are being taken and the devastating consequences of these errors.

Well, I hope that you can see what I already shared with you and perhaps to find a way to make these changes a reality.

Last Updated on 08/01/04 webmaster@namiscc.org

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