What a waste of time ( update)

[BionicBunny]

At least it's being taken care of in the end, inconveniences aside. I hope she gets better.

The thing is they didn’t keep the paperwork. They gave it back and they told me just to go to the other building with the paperwork. How much do you want to bet when I do they will send me back to that building with the paperwork to do the intake. I’ve been down this road before. People who work through services like this never communicate and give so much misinformation it’s ridiculous. This isn’t my first rodeo dealing with situations and people like this. It’s so frustrating it is discouraging. Now if I had the mental illness needing to be seen and I had to deal with this I would probably walk away and say screw it. And that’s how so many people don’t get the mental health services they need.

That is EXACTLY what happens. When my daughter turned 18 she was booted out of the child stream and we had to start over in the adult stream (and at first they insisted she make the phone calls and appointments). After 2 months of her trying to navigate things I finally stepped in and took over. She was ready to walk away, go off all her meds and just deal with it because trying to get appointments or even medication renewals was too difficult for her.

When my mother was diagnosed with cancer her doctor set her up with the specialists, made the appoitments and made sure she knew exactly where she needed to be when. When my 13 year old was dischaged from CAPU (pediatric psych unit) after a 3 week stay I was told to take her to our family doctor and she'd refer us. That was it. So we waited a month to get an appointment with the doctor and then 4 months to see a psychiatrist. All the while I have a kid who can't get out of bed and just wants to cut herself.

It’s such a broken system. Is this still going on with your 13 year old?

[Anonymous 2]

It sure is a lot of parents with mentally I'll children in this group

[Anonymous 3]

It's typically the insurance companies that make the requirement for referrals and medical offices have to comply in order to file. That's one reason why we always choose PPO type health insurance over HMOs so we get to decide which doctor to go to and not have to hassle with getting referrals. I hope you get all that red tape sorted out soon.

I gave up on getting anything paid through insurance. I pay cash. I understand not many can do that. I barely afford it for yds. But it's what I do. Fortunate a LCSW works for him because if he needed a psychiatrist forget it.

[That'swhatshesaid]

I feel your pain! It took all afternoon the other day to schedule an appointment for my son to see a psychiatrist. The appointment is over an hour away and they can't see him for 3 weeks. Most of the doctors won't take patients under 18 and if we wanted to take him somewhere closer, they couldn't get him in for at 3 months. No wonder there's such a mental health crisis in this country! It's a F***ing nightmare trying to get an evaluation.

[Anonymous 4]

It sure is a lot of parents with mentally I'll children in this group

I see the exact opposite, I think there are a lot of kids with mentally ill parents in this group.

[Anonymous 5]

If I were you, I may have asked them, how much will today's visit be if I'm willing to NOT use my insurance?

[BionicBunny]

It sure is a lot of parents with mentally I'll children in this group

Mental illnesses can range from depression to bipolar, from anxiety disorders to personality disorders. I bet there are a LOT more parents out there with children who have mental illnesses or at least something mentally needing to be addressed and they just aren’t willing to admit it and get their child help because they are in denial. There is a bad stigma behind mental health that needs to be broken. It really doesn’t help when comments like this are made to kind of insinuate something negative, whether you mean to or not.

[BionicBunny]

I feel your pain! It took all afternoon the other day to schedule an appointment for my son to see a psychiatrist. The appointment is over an hour away and they can't see him for 3 weeks. Most of the doctors won't take patients under 18 and if we wanted to take him somewhere closer, they couldn't get him in for at 3 months. No wonder there's such a mental health crisis in this country! It's a F***ing nightmare trying to get an evaluation.

Exactly! And it’s even harder in your situation with a minor. My daughter is 19 but when my oldest daughter was 14 she was put in a hospital for suicidal thoughts. She was also a cutter. She has come a long way with the help we got her but it was a nightmare!

[That'swhatshesaid]

I feel your pain! It took all afternoon the other day to schedule an appointment for my son to see a psychiatrist. The appointment is over an hour away and they can't see him for 3 weeks. Most of the doctors won't take patients under 18 and if we wanted to take him somewhere closer, they couldn't get him in for at 3 months. No wonder there's such a mental health crisis in this country! It's a F***ing nightmare trying to get an evaluation.

Exactly! And it’s even harder in your situation with a minor. My daughter is 19 but when my oldest daughter was 14 she was put in a hospital for suicidal thoughts. She was also a cutter. She has come a long way with the help we got her but it was a nightmare!

I had no idea it was so difficult to find a psychiatrist that will treat minors. His therapist recommended 2 people and neither of them will treat anyone under 18. No wonder so many teenagers commit suicide or do something violent. Trying to get them help BEFORE they do something is damn near impossible!

[BionicBunny]

I feel your pain! It took all afternoon the other day to schedule an appointment for my son to see a psychiatrist. The appointment is over an hour away and they can't see him for 3 weeks. Most of the doctors won't take patients under 18 and if we wanted to take him somewhere closer, they couldn't get him in for at 3 months. No wonder there's such a mental health crisis in this country! It's a F***ing nightmare trying to get an evaluation.

Exactly! And it’s even harder in your situation with a minor. My daughter is 19 but when my oldest daughter was 14 she was put in a hospital for suicidal thoughts. She was also a cutter. She has come a long way with the help we got her but it was a nightmare!

I had no idea it was so difficult to find a psychiatrist that will treat minors. His therapist recommended 2 people and neither of them will treat anyone under 18. No wonder so many teenagers commit suicide or do something violent. Trying to get them help BEFORE they do something is damn near impossible!

Yep. I had to drive over five hours away to get my daughter the help she needed and even then they only kept her for a few days as an in-patient. After that they wanted to treat her as an out-patient. We had to stay away from home for months while they did her treatment because she couldn’t be there alone. Thank God for the McDonald house that was near by. They treated us so great and we stayed in comfort close by her treatment. We got lucky with a lot of things with her. If it hasn’t been for the great doctor she was seeing we wouldn’t haven’t gotten her in so quickly. But we sure had to travel a ways for that. Everything is harder to find for treating children for some reason.