I spent 3 years in a psychiatric hospital including low and medium secure

[Alreadytaken23]

I was admitted to a adult ipcu at 17 before being sent to Northampton to a medium secure unit I’m in Scotland

As I don’t work with children or vulnerable adults I had no reason no share my past. Tho eventually I did and she was shocked as looking at me now it’s hard to believe. She’s always been the same with me as everyone else.

Congratulations on your recovery. I hope you find some true friends that are genuine. I think that we are much more empathetic towards mental health though I don't profess to understand. I'd be happy to be friends with someone who posed no risk. A broken leg heals. It's encouraging to know that the same can happen with a mind - I don't think we recognised that a decade ago.
I hope your maternity leave goes well and am sorry to read about how you were treated when you were young and during your treatment. It's truly appalling that people in a position of responsibility can turn a blind eye or encourage such abuse.
Your ability to turn your life around will give hope to many who currently feel hopeless. Thank you for sharing and good luck to you

To have recovered from what you went through is absolutely amazing. I think you should be proud of yourself and the strength it must have taken, not just to survive but to recover and thrive. I think you have a lot to offer someone as a friend. I hope you find someone that you feel able to share your background with and build a strong friendship.

I’m very proud of myself yes it’s taken a lot to get where Iam now and hope someone can gain hope from my story. I’ve got a fantasy where I write a book and my experience ( ghost writer obviously) so many can gain hope that even when all hope and you always see darkness you can turn things around.

When I started to feel well I became very traumatised by my experience. I’ve spent a lot of nights talking to my husband about my time in hospital

Congratulations on your recovery, I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’m a strong believer in your can’t change the hand you are dealt but you can change how you play it’ so well played OP. I wish you all the happiness. If you write the book I’ll buy it. :)

Why would you need a ghost writer? Why not write it yourself?! You could even do a writing course to learn how to structure a book etc.

I think a book would be inspirational, I'd buy it too!

I assumed OP meant she'd write it herself and use a pseudonym?

OP were you specialled while you were still under 18? If not, did you feel vulnerable being unsupervised around adult patients? Were there other underage mentals on your ward? Were you offered any education?

I’m terrible at spelling and grammar that’s why I’d probably use a false name tho. A man in his 60s came over to me and put his hand between my legs ( I was 17) a staff member caught him and I was put on constant observation. I was still often left alone so stuff like that happening was often they would kiss me feel my. Boobs and touch my bum all when I was on constant observation

No education was offered

Ugh. That's so shit; I'm sorry to hear it.

I’m terrible at spelling and grammar

This is what editors are for

FWIW I found adult wards a lot less traumatising than adolescent wards…

That's not intended to be dismissive, BTW; I just meant that people shouldn't necessarily assume that the only issue is putting teenagers on adult wards.

If you could educate/advise a nurse working in this environment, what would you want them to know?

of course. When I was moved back to by local hospital I was put into a adult open ward where my experience was good with staff and other service users if anything they were very protective over me.

I’d tell any staff working in a mental heath setting to treat the service users as people. There was this one nurse I loved going outside with as she used to always take her badge off and we talked about normal things. She made me feel like a person

I had 3 months as an inpt
I had my own room, I was allowed after a while to shut my blinds and lock my door.
Food was great
Staff were caring
I did art therapy and simple things like cooking
Once a week we went on a mini bus to Tesco or Costa
I saw psychologist weekly
I was sexually threatened by a male patient he was moved on
I felt safe and secure

Just to give another point of view this was 2018

www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-49447655 My experience is still happening.

I find it very depressing that things have barely got better since I was on adult wards aged 16 and 17 in the early 00s. Though as I said the adolescent ward I was in at 15 was far more abusive (staff, not patients). I too have experienced protectiveness from adult patients, as well as exploitative behaviour. It's just not good enough.

Have you ever looked at your notes? Did you ever find staff abusive?

I’ve never looked at my notes no but I’ve got the paperwork from my section. I found on the young people’s ward ( medium secure ) my belongings would go missing and I had physical assault more. The staff have been abusive on all settings.

I think you have done amazingly to go from long term hospitalisation as a teenager and young adult yo building a more positive life for yourself.

I have bipolar and relate to some of what you say. I had a horrific experience in a locked ward, some staff are lovely but some are utterly brutal.

I also relate to friendships being on a superficial label as you can't trust people enough to be honest about your experiences, it is like you need to be on guard and keep a part of you hidden all the time. I've had some people just accept me and my experiences but others can be very judgemental.

I'm pretty open about my crazy past and weirdly when I've chatted about it with people it often turns out they have one too. It's like we instinctively gravitate towards one another.