I have found that when a person who has made an attempt or was admitted for suicidal ideation, very little is done with them on the unit itself. They have "groups" yet they are vague and often run by the techs on the floor. Attendance is sporadic.
When the discharge date arrives, there is a flurry of activity. The social worker sits down with the patient and makes sure you have some sort of plan ("Use the coping skills you learned here.") yet there is no specific or detailed safety plan drawn up. They are told to follow-up with their psychiatrist, which almost always happens because they have your medications. There is a sense that your getting better relies almost completely on taking your meds. The SW makes sure you have an appointment with your therapist and if not, they had you a resource sheet of therapist in the area. Very few of these therapist take Medicaid, have no sliding scale and increasingly, are self pay. That means even if you have insurance, you have to pay them their full amount and they give you the receipt with diagnosis so you can send it into your insurance company. This is done so you have to wait for reimbursement rather than them.
That's it. No treatment resources specific to suicide, no family sessions to discuss safety and what support look like for the patient, occasional referrals to NAMI support groups and viola, you are back in the real world again from which you just tried to escape from with your suicide attempt.
What is wrong with this picture?
When the discharge date arrives, there is a flurry of activity. The social worker sits down with the patient and makes sure you have some sort of plan ("Use the coping skills you learned here.") yet there is no specific or detailed safety plan drawn up. They are told to follow-up with their psychiatrist, which almost always happens because they have your medications. There is a sense that your getting better relies almost completely on taking your meds. The SW makes sure you have an appointment with your therapist and if not, they had you a resource sheet of therapist in the area. Very few of these therapist take Medicaid, have no sliding scale and increasingly, are self pay. That means even if you have insurance, you have to pay them their full amount and they give you the receipt with diagnosis so you can send it into your insurance company. This is done so you have to wait for reimbursement rather than them.
That's it. No treatment resources specific to suicide, no family sessions to discuss safety and what support look like for the patient, occasional referrals to NAMI support groups and viola, you are back in the real world again from which you just tried to escape from with your suicide attempt.
What is wrong with this picture?
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