We need to do better

It has been a week since my daughter has been out of the mental health unit of the hospital. Last Friday at about this time we walked outside and she took her first breath of fresh air in three weeks. It seems like every day there is an article or report about how mental health benefits of being outside and breathing fresh air, yet there is no place at Strong where kids can do that. With all of the high-tech, stat-of-the-art wings at the University of Rochester’s Strong Hospital, there is no safe place for these kids to get fresh air. I think that needs to change.

I don’t know how to do it. I don’t know how to improve CPEP (Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program), increase staff and space, provide more beds so kids don’t have to wait days to be admitted and begin treatment, or how to provide a safe outdoor space to aid in their treatment, but it needs to be done.

It breaks my heart that the adolescent side of CPEP is always packed. Kids and parents spread out on every piece of worn furniture, leaning on one another trying to sleep while waiting up to 24 hours or more to be seen. Some are sent home, others are held even longer while they wait for a bed to open up in the all but forgotten R wing. It was 48 hours for us.

It isn’t the fault of the staff. They do their best and are amazing. But the need is big - bigger than CPEP and the R wing can handle. Too many kids with an invisible illness that takes on so many different forms. CPEP and the R wing are the only place these kids get a respite from the stigma of mental illness. Where they can let their guard down and be completely honest with one another and the staff who work with them.

Unfortunately, I believe the stigma outside that wing is too great to get the financial support they need to do better, to provide more. That is our job to correct. We need to get the right people involved so we can do better for our kids. We need to be open about mental illness. We need to end the stigma and talk about treatment. And we need to support that treatment any way we can. It starts here. We need to do better.