Mental Health Crisis in the US
One of the biggest problems for the kids in this country is mental health and how to treat it. Being a coach for my kids teams I have seen an outside perspective of it but never have had to deal with it first hand, until now.
Since December my daughter has been having outbursts about going to school, something every 5 year old goes through but this was something different. To help us out, my mother in law would help and bring the kids to school since my wife and I start work early in the morning. While in Vegas I got a call saying that my daughter hit, kicked and called my mother in law a fucking bitch and all hell was breaking loose, again she is 5. Not knowing what the hell was going on we called her PCP (primary care provider) to see what could be done. After a few weeks they saw her and of course she was fine, acting like her self. Her doctor then said we can go see a psychiatrist, but since she’s 5 there isn’t a lot of options so they made an appointment for March, two months away.
Well, now the rage is getting worse. She would come home from school and have a great day and then like a flip of a light switch she would rage by hitting me, my wife, and son biting us kicking us calling us names, throwing objects and breaking stuff, again she is 5. The other day it got to the breaking point where we had no where else to go, so we brought her to the ER because we think there is something extremely wrong with her mentally by doing this and then with a flip of the switch she stops. My wife and sister in law spent 5 hours at the hospital where they were given a number to call and some things to try to push her emotions out to settle down.
The next day it happens again, but this time it was worst since my sister in law was called over and now she is hitting her and doing the same stuff to her which before she wouldn’t. After the hospital and the joke of things they told us to do (which we did and didn’t work at all) I called the police. Yes I felt like a dumbass to call the police on a 5 year old too but at the same time she was flipping coffee tables over and jumping off furniture and if she hurt her self we would be the ones questioned anyway. So thankfully they sent someone over and we showed them the video we took of her raging and told him why we called them over. While he was here we called the mental health phone number and spent the next hour and a half talking to some guy who was clearly reading step by step directions on how to address the situation. Finally and thankfully the police officer took the phone and asked the gentleman, “is this going to be like this every time they call and have a situation like this?” -Yes.
Pretty much unless your child is in the act of trying to commit suicide they will not help you what so ever. So seeing this first hand and knowing the process and still after all this not getting an appointment any faster I can clearly see why this country and the youth of this country that need help aren’t getting it till its too late. Little Johnny needs to have a gun in his hand before they send a mobile unit out to help. But, if parents or even children are crying out for help why isn’t there organization that can help prevent this before we get to the point where they are trying to harm themselves or others. Thankfully for my wife and I we have great friends and family who have been there to help us but what about families that don’t have this and are trying to reach out like we are to be told, “sorry see you in two months”
The mental health crisis is a huge problem for kids, from broken homes, to bullying and cyber bullying now, to just something that’s going on that they don’t know why they are doing it but need help. I know me writing a blog that 10 people will read isn’t going to do anything but this was another outlet for me to express what is going on and helps get things off my mind and chest.