Applying To Sheppard Pratt

[Symphony]

Anyone been to SP TDU recently? There's no guarantee that I'll get in but my therapist thinks it's likely. I'd like to hear about what it's like when you arrive, what the place is like, how it runs, what weekends are like, how they handle things like iPods or if you can even charge the battery at all, etc.

I've scoured old posts for information but it seems like some of it is out dated, that the unit changed at some point? Anyone been there this year (2016)?

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

I was just there in September for a month. Its the best place if you have ptsd. Go to there website for the trauma unit. There is a list of what you can bring. I warn you they stick to the list 100 percent, no exceptions period. As far as weekends they have groups on weekends too. The staff a great. you should have no worries. There main focus is on teaching coping skills to help you manage your ptsd symptoms, and safety. On the safety stuff their protocols are greater than other places.

 

[Symphony]

I was just there in September for a month. Its the best place if you have ptsd. Go to there...

What's with the spandex rule in their list? My sensory issues make it difficult for me to wear any pants other than yoga pants.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

What's with the spandex rule in their list? My sensory issues make it difficult for me to wear any pan...

They stretch, my guess is people can hang or hurt themselves with it, I stuck to the list, and still some of my cloths were not given to me until D/C. They are very careful about maintaining safety.

I personally ended up harming myself during an emotional flashback where I was stuck in trauma time, but not with anything on the unit, with my fingernails. Its almost impossible for anything on the unit to be used for Self Harm unlike regular psych units where things can be found if one is self harming.

I would not worry about the the restrictive aspects, this is the best place you can go for care in my book.

If you want to talk directly with me about sheppard pratt tdu contact me on PM (conversations) and we can setup a call.

 

[Symphony]

They stretch, my guess is people can hang or hurt themselves with it, I stuck to the list, a...

Yes, please. (goes to figure out PM system)

 

[tphillips117]

I just got out of Sheppard Pratt TDU. I was only there for 4 days, but I found it highly traumatic. If you have DID, this is the place for you! If you have PTSD or complex PTSD, don't go here. I went thinking it was the best place for me considering my severe symptoms, but I don't self harm, have no suicidal intent, not addicted to anything, and thought I could get support from my peers. The nurses were very intrusive, constantly asking if you were having an "appropriate" conversation and if they were not privy to the conversation they would stand there and listen to you talk. You are babysat on every level. 15 minute checks on you 24 hours a day. If you sit in the blue chairs meant to have a "staff contact", you do so in full view of everyone on the unit. So every conversation and emotional meltdown is in front of everyone. And, staff discusses your conversations with every nurse on the floor. There is zero privacy, even when you use the bathroom. They take most everything away from you. If you are suicidal, then this makes sense, if you are not, you will get a prison vibe. There is NO going outside or off the unit. There are very few windows on the unit in which you can actually see out of. Like I said, I was only there for 4 days, but not being able to feel cool, outside air on my face made me feel like a prisoner--and even inmates get rec time outdoors (you, however will not). There were security and police on our floor nearly everyday to restrain someone who lost it. On the floor above the unit is a child psych unit with constant banging, yelling and kids eloping from the floor. There were codes called often. All in all, it was a hot mess. I asked to be discharged because I felt the unit was not in my best interest and my team agreed and got me discharged in less than 24 hours. I am headed to a residential facility which I think is more appropriate for me.

If anyone has any questions or concerns about this facility, feel free to ask away!

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

Clearly this place was not for you, I am surprised they accepted you, most of the time they will suggest IDTP or IOP if S/I is not involved.

I have complex PFSD and I was extremely suicidal enough that the authorities had a bolo on me, and i found the measures restricting but appropriate for my needs. As for the blue chairs, a lot of places do that, it's mean to make it easy for patients to ask for help without saying anything. Patients are not supposed to hang around the blue chairs due to privacy. If someone does hang around the chairs they will ask if they need a staff contact.

The safety measures are designed to prevent self-harm, as that is an almost 100% certainty with most patients. Those measures certainly prevented me from self-harming when I felt like I wanted to.

I have to be very clear, this place was the best thing that ever happened to me, I was there 26 days, and if I had not gone there there was a near 100% chance I would have taken my life instead.

Since I left there, I have been able to cope with the flashbacks, and thoughts, SAFELY. I have been in intensive ABUSE therapy that in itself is 100%v triggering, and leaves me with the thoughts and effects I would get from being triggered producing a flashback or thoughts. Much to the degree I have had the urges to self-harm for relief, but because of what I learned there I have not done any self-harm.

You say there was security on the floor everyday when someone lost it, well that happens on that kind of unit, often there is a patient who has control issues, but its actually not the norm, when I was there for 26 days, no one lost it except me, during my whole time there not a single code green was called except for the one they called on me.

So for me my stay there was highly successful, and I am diagnosed with complex ptsd, and bi-polar.

I hope you find the right place that meets your needs @tphillips117 , clearly the SP TDU was not the right place.

 

[tphillips117]

People need to aware of what it's REALLY like there, because SP gets a detailed packet to see if you are a good fit for the unit, but you get no details to see if the unit is a good fit for you. The website is very misleading and I don't think it's a good fit for everyone. If you are not suicidal, I think a residential setting is more appropriate.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

I agree that if you're not suicidal it may not be a good fit, but there are exceptions, depending on the person's symptoms and needs.
I also agree that there should be more about what the unit is like.

I know for me they were a lifesaver LITERALLY. Ever program is different, what may not work for someone in one place may work for someone in another place.

I am sorry you found the restrictive environment there hard to deal with. I know for me it's exactly what I needed, I have been in less restrictive environments and I did not do well and there was much drama. The strictness there prevented me from engaging in self/harm as there was nothing to do it with, and there was no time to do anything that would lead to self harm.

 

[joeylittle]

I'm curious, @tphillips117 - if you don't mind - what brought you to apply for Sheppard in the first place, as opposed to either another facility, or just continuing with therapy and not going inpatient?

 

[lux.]

I just got out of Sheppard Pratt TDU. I was only there for 4 days, but I found it highly traumatic...

Most of what you're complaining about are just things that are standard in any psych ward. Sheppard Pratt probably doesn't warn you about them because they assume if you're coming for inpatient psychiatric care, you know what that is. Generally, insurance only covers inpatient if you're a danger to yourself or others, so everyone there is, and this is true of every inpatient ward. They always take everything away from you that could possibly be used to harm yourself. Sheppard Pratt is the only place I've encountered the spandex rule, but I've never been allowed to have an eyelash curler in any psych ward. And that's what the TDU is--a psych ward. You can't go outside until you're on a higher level (essentially ready to leave) because you might run off or, I guess, find something sharp on the ground to bring back with you. Many places you never get to go outside at all. Everywhere has to do checks at least on a 15 minute basis, sometimes more often--because a psych ward is a locked unit for people who are not safe without supervision, and they need to constantly check to make sure you're not harming yourself.

You must've gotten to SP right after I left this last time. This was my fourth time there now and I have not always been suicidal when I've gone, but it's been a good fit for me anyway. I know it's a shock getting locked up your first time, and I would imagine that it's harder when your first time is later in life (I was 18 for my first inpatient hospitalization, though it was in inner-city Baltimore, so it was not the country club that Sheppard Pratt is). They were not a lifesaver for me, but they were very helpful, and I can say from experience that they are by FAR better than any other psych ward I've ever been to. Complain about those blue chairs all you must, but you're not going to get that at any standard psych ward--you're not even going to get a tech who has time or is willing to talk if you ask them to.

At Sheppard Pratt, patients have a wide variety of ways in which they can be a danger to themselves, and often they aren't even aware that they're harming themselves due to things like flashbacks and dissociation. So there's quite a lot the staff have to look out for. It sucks that there were a lot of codes called when you were there--that's not typical. I was there for six weeks and I think there were only two or three (although two were simultaneous on Christmas day). The real reason SP has to be so careful is because when one person flips their shit, it sets the whole milieu off balance and can trigger a chain reaction. Maybe there was just a bad milieu when you were there.

In any case, I hope that residential has been a better fit for you. But don't go around the site telling everyone that Sheppard Pratt is the worst place in the world just because they tried to keep you safe.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

patients have a wide variety of ways in which they can be a danger to themselves

I agree with this statement 100% percent, in my case besides physically harming myself from a dissociative event, I also was harming myself passively by starving myself. Something not easily recognized.