penguinuser
New Here
Hey!!! I was wondering if you could tell me how strict they were about things like lotions and creams? I am scrambling to pack these things but just confused. It says it must be in a clear bottle AND manufacturer labels in place. How is that even possible? How did you package yours?I can certainly do that.
Meals come up on a cart that you can pick from a few choices at 8:30 for breakfast, 12:30 for lunch, and 5:30 for dinner. The cart stays at most of 1/2 hour so that is actually helpful for me because it means there are definite times for eating. I do much better remembering to eat when there is a specific schedule. And you have to be up by 8:30 for breakfast, which was the best meal.
Each day every patient sees the psychiatrist for rounds (a covering weekend attending on Sat/Sun, which occasionally is your actual dr.) and they do the med changes and check ins, general health check-ins, and mental health check-ins and some psychotherapy. Three times per week you see your assigned therapist for 45-60 minutes. Highly trained people and I think that they are probably all awesome, but I mainly worked with one psychiatrist and one therapist except during brief vacations of theirs.
The rest of the day consists of groups. Each day starts with goals group at 10:00 and each person states their 2-4 goals for the day that are treatment related and often relate to assignments that you got from the psychiatrist or therapist, but you can have your own focus as well. Each day ends with a goals review group in which everyone talks about what they got accomplished for the set goals and what got in the way of anything they didn't accomplish (no shaming, just staing).
Between those groups there is a variety of groups on a scheduled basis. We had Cognitive Therapy 1x per week, DBT 2x, Containment 2-3x, journal group 2x, Self-Compassion 1x (I actually really liked this group), yoga 2x, music therapy 3x (I came to love this group, too), cognitive tasks (think arts and crafts that help with symptom management) 2x, daily living skills 1-2x, creative expressions 1x (I love this group- it's creative writing), leisure learning 1x, symptom management 2x, health and stress management 1x, pain management 1x, med education 1x every other week, ask anything (treatment/program related) 1x. I think that's mainly it. Most groups last 45 minutes with 15 minutes before the next group. Some days there were back to back groups from 10-4 and other days there were some breaks. They also usually have art therapy, but the art therapist just left and they're hiring a new one.
There are also three processing groups, like group psychotherapy- actually that's the name of one, the other two are family issues and transitions.
The other core staff consists of nurses and mental health workers. These people sometimes run a group, but mostly they are there to help hand out med and to support you if you are having a difficult time or need help or to review an assignment. They are awesome. They rotate through 3 shifts of these workers per 24 hours periods. They check on you every 15 minutes no matter where you are or what you're doing. It's one thing that helps me sleep at night. All staff speaks the same language and can help with the skills you're learning and guide you towards helping yourself.
One thing that really helps me being at Sheppard-Pratt is knowing that I am not alone. The current unit has 12 patients max at a time. These patients have all been through some sort of trauma and a lot also have DID. So even though there is a strict policy not to talk about your trauma, you don't have to because you just know that everyone gets it. There's free time for coloring, playing games, chatting, reading, etc. You can hang out in your room or in the milieu as they call the common areas. Some nights they put on movies.
The staff helps me a great deal to make progress especially since everyone knows what you're goals are and what you're supposed to be working on. The psychiatrist that I worked with was awesome and helped me make some really good discoveries about myself. He also explained emotions in a way that actually made sense to me and I was able to start naming how I was feeling! One thing that really helps me accomplish a lot there is that I feel safer on a locked unit when doing hard work. And knowing there is always a staff memeber to help out if I get overwhelmed. I am able to be comfortable enough to use skills and to communicate internally and journal. Even though there was so much new about the unit and staff this time, it was still the same caring, supportive environment.
If I bring a clear empty bottle and transfer it from the original packaging IN FRONT OF THEM do you think they would allow me to keep it?? Lol. And what about air pump bottles! They can't be opened OR closed either! Any thoughts? Sorry to pester... I really am super nervous!! And truth be told I'll be really very miserable without my skincare.