At the beginning of admissions you are given a 'welcome pack' a little booklet with information about the treatment and general rules of the ward. I've always found these things ridiculous. They somehow manage to make the places sound like holiday resorts!
So I though I would write a little bit about what It can actually be like on an inpatient ward. Don't get me wrong they are great places, they save lives and they have certainly helped me a lot. However they aren't always the calm and therputic places they say on paper or like they may be potrayed in movies.
They can be loud, scary and some times completely out of control. There have even been occasions police have been called! One ward basically had 2 average sized rooms for 12 patients to spend the entire day in, we were only allowed in our bedrooms after 10pm. This often ended up in some awful nights. It was like a domino effect, there was no space to help patients calm down quietly So quickly the whole ward would become so distressed that the only way to get the situation under control was to give several patients sedative injections . This is NOT a therapeutic atmosphere, it makes me so sad that this is still happening in some wards when this clearly isn't right.
Some of the staff support is sometimes questionable. The ward manager of a eating disorder unit once told a patient struggling to eat their food 'just eat the sandwich, it won't bite'. Some staff have never been given any training, so of course it's hard to know what to say. However you don't need training to be kind and compassionate. The amount of times I've been shouted at or threatened with things is ridiculous.
This is slightly unbelievable but I promise is 100% true, a member of staff turned up for shift very drunk. After creating a massive scene where she became quite aggressive and scared a lot of us she was escorted off the ward. That was quite a shock for us all.
Everything's not so bad though, they also don't include the care and kindness you receive from other patients. Everyone's just there trying to make the best out of a bad situation. I remember nights where we would turn up the music really loud and dance around the lounge, it always made us laugh when staff told us 'slowly slowly!' because they thought it was to much exercise but nevertheless it was still fun doing silly things like that. The friendships I've made are so special, they are people I will never forget. Sometimes the support from them made the biggest difference. I've met some very inspirational people who helped me to actually see a way out for myself!
The good and the bad have helped me become the person I am today.
All my love
Pops x
So I though I would write a little bit about what It can actually be like on an inpatient ward. Don't get me wrong they are great places, they save lives and they have certainly helped me a lot. However they aren't always the calm and therputic places they say on paper or like they may be potrayed in movies.
They can be loud, scary and some times completely out of control. There have even been occasions police have been called! One ward basically had 2 average sized rooms for 12 patients to spend the entire day in, we were only allowed in our bedrooms after 10pm. This often ended up in some awful nights. It was like a domino effect, there was no space to help patients calm down quietly So quickly the whole ward would become so distressed that the only way to get the situation under control was to give several patients sedative injections . This is NOT a therapeutic atmosphere, it makes me so sad that this is still happening in some wards when this clearly isn't right.
Some of the staff support is sometimes questionable. The ward manager of a eating disorder unit once told a patient struggling to eat their food 'just eat the sandwich, it won't bite'. Some staff have never been given any training, so of course it's hard to know what to say. However you don't need training to be kind and compassionate. The amount of times I've been shouted at or threatened with things is ridiculous.
This is slightly unbelievable but I promise is 100% true, a member of staff turned up for shift very drunk. After creating a massive scene where she became quite aggressive and scared a lot of us she was escorted off the ward. That was quite a shock for us all.
Everything's not so bad though, they also don't include the care and kindness you receive from other patients. Everyone's just there trying to make the best out of a bad situation. I remember nights where we would turn up the music really loud and dance around the lounge, it always made us laugh when staff told us 'slowly slowly!' because they thought it was to much exercise but nevertheless it was still fun doing silly things like that. The friendships I've made are so special, they are people I will never forget. Sometimes the support from them made the biggest difference. I've met some very inspirational people who helped me to actually see a way out for myself!
The good and the bad have helped me become the person I am today.
All my love
Pops x
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