What age? We used Dominion in this situation, and it was better than Childrens National, which didn’t admit him.

Dominion wasn’t perfect (in 2020), but it set us up with a psychiatrist who was wonderful and so important to getting him on a solid set of medications that helped with decreasing violence, accessing therapy interventions, and bringing peace back to our house.

My son was also on the pediatric floor (at 11), which was better than being with adolescents in the alternative hospitals.

I am sorry you are dealing with this. I know from experience how hard this can be. Sheppard Pratt has a walk in crisis center that you may want to consider. Hospitalization is not easy and comes with its own negatives. We have found the best course of action for our family (after several hospitalizations) has been to create a safety plan within our home. Depending on the age and disability of your child this might be something you can consider and develop with the support of a mobile crisis team. Sending lots of hugs and love to you!

We had two hospitalization, both very traumatic. In the long run I feel they both had more of a negative impact then helpful, especially the second one. Both times we had to start at our local ER as both times we were transported there by police and that was their protocol. Our ER (Frederick MD) has both adult and children emergency ER patients on the same wing, they did try to separate children and adults but this was not always possible. It was extremely traumatic for both myself who stayed with her day/night until she had a bed and my child. The first time she got a bed after two nights in the Psych ER but the second time we waited five long days. We also had to be strong advocates and speak as to why we refused to send her to some very unsafe places that were being recommended while we waited. Also the second time they did not even have a bed in the emergency psych er wing on the first night and the “care” and staff did not know how to handle her and had no empathy. As result she eloped from the hospital, I was the only one that followed her out and was only able to stop her from running into the street because of the grace of a stranger who was walking his dog and helped. She was then medically restrained when we returned to the hospital (also extremely traumatic to witness) and this lead to her having a higher level of acuity and I think in part was why we waited so long to find a bed and why they recommended some unsafe places, they just wanted her out of there. I also witnessed the ER nurses say another patient by name in the waiting room multiple times and talk about him ( this was another child from my child’s special needs school) and of course is 100% in violation of the child’s privacy. It made me concerned for my own child’s privacy and safety. I did bring this up to the social worker but due to my own crisis at hand I did not have the energy to take that further.

Our first admission was at Sheppard Pratt in Towson this did provide a change in medication and offered a reset but the aftercare was minimal because of everything being full.

Our second admission was at North Spring in Leesburg VA and it was a horrible experience. They finally admitted to being extremely short staffed. she really received little ti no therapeutic care and discharged while still
exhibiting unsafe behaviors.

We have decided as a family to avoid further hospitalizations. i recognize this
might not always be possible. we have created a family safety plan. I am happy to share more about what that looks like for us.

This is so hard and I am sorry you and your family are dealing with this. continue to use this site for support. sending you huggs!

Not Johns Hopkins Suburban for mental health, even if your child is bleeding out in their parking lot. They were cruel.

Anonymous wrote:PP can you tell me what the process would look like at Adventist? Do they almost always admit? What does it look like when they don't admit?

They always admitted so I don’t know what happens if they don’t. And before someone asks, I lost count of the number of hospitalizations. If you take not double digits by now it’s close.

What happened in the ER was that my child would be seen by a doctor then a mental health tech (not sure of qualifications). Then recommendations were made and reviewed with on call psychiatrist. Admission was always to the Adventist facility but I suppose we child have chosen elsewhere. They always had beds when we needed it and I liked the inpatient, particularly the doctors and the discharge planning. Sometimes it took a long time because the on call docs don’t really consider a psych admission an emergency in that they can be maintained safely in the ER. So I spent many a might sitting in a hard chair waiting for the morning admission. I learned to wear warm comfortable clothes and bring lots of stuff to entertain myself.

There’s a lot more that goes on like taking clothes and anything else that poses a risk of self harm and treating whatever other conditions led to the visit. For us violence was accompanied by self harm usually so that needed evaluation and treatment.

To a PPs point, sometimes arrival was by ambulance or police. Ambulance and police wouldn’t take mine to Adventist because it’s not the closest and while the closest hospital was ok in a pinch, I wasn’t a fan - too much turnover, no real programming, inadequate discharge planning.

But police are a gamble. You’re as likely to end up with an incarceration. We have community policing and have a relationship with our department so I felt comfortable using them. But it always involved removing my child and transporting in handcuffs even if the result was hospitalization. And at least twice there were some heavy duty medications at the ER due to out of control behavior - which was better than jail in my mind. And you can’t refuse because otherwise they will be removed to jail.

I’m sorry you’re going through this. I am pretty numb to it because it’s been a lifestyle for us for so long, although we have had a nine month period of stability so I’d probably be in crisis if it starts up again. Good luck.

In my experience, admission is more likely if police observe the behavior and transport the child, but it is tremendously risky, especially if the kid is older and/or not white.

Anonymous wrote:PP can you tell me what the process would look like at Adventist? Do they almost always admit? What does it look like when they don't admit?

I did this one time on the advice of my child's school. They didn't admit him or do anything actually. Nothing changed as a result of seeking medical help.

How are you getting an unstable child to the hospital?

PP can you tell me what the process would look like at Adventist? Do they almost always admit? What does it look like when they don't admit?

BTDT many times. Adventist in Rockville. Would never go to Children’s because they never seem to have anything to offer beyond ER and it takes forever to find a bed elsewhere so you’re stuck there with your kid for like forever.

OP I am sorry sending hugs.

Children's National

Children's national.

Children's or one with a teen/children's ward. You don't want the kid inpatient with adults.

In NW DC. Teen child is out of control violent. Throwing glass at people, furniture. Which hospital do you recommend?