Ignorance, Violence, and Mental Health
Mental health is important and therapy is vital for our generation. Therapy is often stigmatized and looked down upon, but maybe if I share enough of my stories, mental health funding will increase and counselor burnout will decrease. Here’s one of my favorites.
In 2015, I was working as a crisis counselor on the south side of Chicago. That night, I’d taken a call at Roseland Community Hospital. It was a full moon. Ask any mental health worker or bartender and they’ll both tell you that things get intense on the night of a full moon. I spent two hours arguing with a father of an ER patient. The mother of the 13 year old brought her into the ER for throwing her own feces at her siblings. I thought to myself, well, this is gonna be an easy one. She’s getting committed, but things went south once her father arrived.
The father insisted that there was nothing wrong with the kid despite my client admitting to throwing her own shit at her siblings and exhibiting other psychotic behaviors. I explained to the dad that this was not normal behavior and it was dangerous to allow her to leave the ER without further psychiatric evaluation. He started speaking, “There ain’t nothing wrong with her”. Then, he started yelling, “There ain’t nothing wrong with her”. He must have said those exact words 50 times that night.
It didn’t take long for the situation to escalate. In the white halls of an empty 3 AM emergency room, the man continued to scream at me. He refused to have his daughter hospitalized and appeared so conspicuous and violently loud that patients and doctors started to stare. As the man continued to insist that nothing was wrong, the attending physician took custody of his daughter and stated that she would be further evaluated in the psychiatric ward. I tried to echo the physician’s sentiment and ensure the father that this was the right thing to do. Instead, I was immediately shoved and knocked off balance by this frenzied man. My notes spilled across the floor. The man continued his frenzy and threw a punch at me. My reflexes kicked in and I dodged it and stumbled backwards. Thankfully, security tackled him to the ground. I had dealt with pissed-off parents before, but I’d never had someone throw a punch like that.
The man was arrested and removed from the situation. His daughter remained in psychiatric care. Breathing heavily with my fight or flight still pumping, I headed home and arrived at 5:00 AM. I poured a couple shots of bourbon avoiding processing anymore emotions for that day and fell asleep. Talk about a shitty night, but I’ll never forget my crisis stories. Counselors get burned out. Don’t tell me that mental health care isn’t important.
