By Stephanie Roth
It saddens me that Chelsea Hospital’s behavioral health unit is closing. When someone goes to a psychiatric hospital, they are typically at their worst emotionally. They have a variety of things going on, whether it be severe depression, suicidality, panic, disassociation, etc. Whatever their case may be, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect no matter what! The staff members at Chelsea were kind, compassionate, and willing to help in any way they could. It was a comforting place to be, to work on myself. I was listened to, and the staff members were extremely patient. Unfortunately, I cannot say this about every psychiatric hospital. I hope that other hospitals will learn from Chelsea because I feel every hospital should be like this one. No matter what a person’s diagnosis was, people never seemed to be treated poorly at Chelsea. My diagnosis has a lot of stigmas attached to it. Mental health conditions have stigmas in general, and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has a lot of stigmas attached! I have specifically been told to not say in the ER that I have BPD because I will immediately be stigmatized. I have therapists that I have told my diagnosis to, and I can see how uncomfortable they get. After the first session, several therapists have said that they could no longer work with me. I understand that it’s ignorance. They just don’t get it. I never got that feeling at Chelsea Hospital.
To the Staff at Chelsea: Thank you for all you do. Thank you for your kindness, compassion, and not only your willingness to help, but the fact that you actually want to help. I hope that wherever you work next, you teach others all that you know, especially kindness. You are greatly appreciated and have saved my life several times. Thankfully, I have a wonderful outpatient therapist, I am in a great DBT group, and I hope to not need to go into the hospital again. If I do, and if others do, I hope we are treated kindly and by people who WANT to help.
Stephanie has been volunteering with NAMI for 2 years and was recently hired to be the Outreach Coordinator. She is a mental health advocate and finds writing to be a great way for her to express herself.
I was appalled to learn this week from a nurse at Chelsea that their psych unit is closing as of this month. There is such a crying, desperate need for mental healthcare facilities everywhere that for it to be closed, (presumably because it is not cash positive), is more than a shame, it’s outrageous. Mental and behavioral healthcare touch every strata and political persuasion of American society, and have nothing to do with our homeless population exclusively. I speak from many years of experience in my own family of Ivy League priveliged, educated professionals, as well as blue collar workers. The psychiatric emergency care at UM Hospital and St Joe’s for people of all ages, especially the most vulnerable, is completely insufficient and inadequate as our national mental healthcare crisis continues to escalate and spiral out of control. This issue MUST be addressed at every level of government – that is, IF our government is truly, “of, by, and FOR the people.” Federal, state, and local governments cannot simply say that this kind of closure “is a shame.” And it doesn’t have to be this way! The health of our republic is the health of our people, and if we choose to ignore this kind of problem and just wish it would go away, we’re doomed to fail and collapse as a society. What are we going to do about it?
Respectfully,
Pete Thomason
Ann Arbor