Please read my earlier journal first... I got dispirited and had to stop till I could go on...
2nd part....
Cara had insurance... I had her to the Tau Center which is part of the Our Lady Of The Lake Hospital... One of the biggest hospitals in the area... and one of the best known centers for treatment of alcohol/substance abuse... She went later to Riverwest twice...
I got a coroner's hold for her in Terrebonne Parish... They picked her up... brought her to the hospital... a dr who was on call (not a psychiatrist or psychologist... maybe not even a dr... he may have been an intern...) anyway he sent a nurse out to tell my daughter her voice had given him a headache... she could leave now... I wish he could have heard the pain and the shame in my baby's voice when she told me about this... She tried to cover it up with mockery... but she failed miserably... I could have killed him.... I still feel so angry... but nothing I can do will bring her back....
(am I crazy... you bet your ass I am... I'm so mad and so sad I can hardly see to type.... the pain is.... )
I brought her to the mental health clinic here in Baton Rouge... they hospitalized her for 10 days... brought her to the mental health alcohol/substance abuse clinic in Houma... they let her go home with her kids... Ben stayed with Cara and the kids for 10 days and finally talked her into going back to Riverwest...
She felt so ashamed and so betrayed after her second visit to the Tau Center she would never go there again...
We never stopped trying... I could scream and cry... and I have plenty... I am right now... but it changes nothing... still I have to try...
2nd part....
Cara had insurance... I had her to the Tau Center which is part of the Our Lady Of The Lake Hospital... One of the biggest hospitals in the area... and one of the best known centers for treatment of alcohol/substance abuse... She went later to Riverwest twice...
I got a coroner's hold for her in Terrebonne Parish... They picked her up... brought her to the hospital... a dr who was on call (not a psychiatrist or psychologist... maybe not even a dr... he may have been an intern...) anyway he sent a nurse out to tell my daughter her voice had given him a headache... she could leave now... I wish he could have heard the pain and the shame in my baby's voice when she told me about this... She tried to cover it up with mockery... but she failed miserably... I could have killed him.... I still feel so angry... but nothing I can do will bring her back....
(am I crazy... you bet your ass I am... I'm so mad and so sad I can hardly see to type.... the pain is.... )
I brought her to the mental health clinic here in Baton Rouge... they hospitalized her for 10 days... brought her to the mental health alcohol/substance abuse clinic in Houma... they let her go home with her kids... Ben stayed with Cara and the kids for 10 days and finally talked her into going back to Riverwest...
She felt so ashamed and so betrayed after her second visit to the Tau Center she would never go there again...
We never stopped trying... I could scream and cry... and I have plenty... I am right now... but it changes nothing... still I have to try...
Replies
Hi Elissa! This treatment was horrible! I would have reported it to whomever I could.
When I worked I did parental counceling for divorced parents, and I evaluated each parent for custodial rights. I don\'t know if I told you but I did a lot of research (my main love) in Geriatrics. Privately, I would only take four patients at a time. I became very close to them and their families. They had my home number and I was available 24/7. A group of friends that I went to school with helped me a lot with different approaches ie one was a educational psychologist. He would help them find the direction they wanted to go in terms of career; one was a motivation specialist who helped turn the self depreciation into self respect; one helped determine identity separate from outside perceptions; I was a behaviorist and helped modify aggression or self defeating tendencies. We helped each other but we formed a caring team and I am proud to say we never lost one of our kids. We all had paying jobs. What we did in private for each other was gratis. The kids we dealt with were refered by the school or the court or the local churches. We by no means accepted all...we couldn\'t and give them what they needed. We always ended our time with them the same way...four weeks of family sessions. The reason was the parents and other kids were affected too. This often worked as an intervention for the siblings and allowed the parents to realize that what happened was not their fault.
Again this was a very small cog in a very large wheel. We were young and wanted to give back. For ten years we did.
I agree...something has to be done. An intervention has to be put in place. I do understand your resentment. My anger would have been legendary at Tau Hospital and that Intern would never have practiced medicine again. I would have sued him for murder!
Your pain is so real and so justified! I wish I could undo all that has happened.
Kathy
I am so very, very sorry for all that you have been through...for all that Cara went through...for all that the system did to you both. It failed you, it is broken and it killed our children. Yet no one in the system will take responsibility for the wrongs they have done, for their failures to act, to protect, to save lives...and our children are gone. I could go on and on about how many times the system failed in the chain of events that led to my son being killed...I have never felt such rage in my life nor such helplessness. I cannot undo what they have done, I cannot fix it, I cannot bring him back and I can\'t stand that. So I try to change things now, to make some difference and to offer support to others whom the system failed. Just wanted you to know I hear you, that I care...(((((hugs)))))
wow what a prick!!!! I can\'t believe he said that! I just don\'t get so me people...
Did you know that a majority of the homeless in our country are people who have been failed by the system? The mental health facilities that used to care for some of them are closed now (lack of funding-big surprise) and the ones with no money or another place to go to are living on the street. At one point (I\'m not certain if it\'s changed or not), the nation\'s unemployment statistics were calculated via the number of unemployment checks each state was cutting. Which is the govt.\'s way of saying \"clearly, if you\'re not collecting unemployment it\'s because you\'re working!............ WRONGO!!!
Nixon was the only President who recognized that substance abuse problems cannot be treated by eliminating the product. You have to eliminate the desire/need for it. He made treatment available to anyone that wanted it and consequently was also the President for whom drug abuse was the least problematic. I have said before that if we put a large portion of this country\'s penal (NOT PENILE ladies!!!) budget into the school systems, it would go a long way toward reducing our need for prisons. I think the same could also be said about the \"War on Drugs\". Stop worrying about supply and start fighting the addiction!!! Heck, you could legalize marijuana (controversial I know), tax it like crazy and use all of the proceeds to set up rehab centers for anyone and everyone to come clean off whatever they want.
One of the reasons I put myself out on a limb for the kids I work with is because I know they don\'t always get it from other teachers they have or have had. The educational system in this country is another example of the stratification of America. The schools with the most money (and consequently their students) are the ones that win. Everybody is so insistent that this is the \"Land of Opportunity\" that they\'ve put blinders on in regard to who the \"opportunity\" is available to! The echelon with money always argues that money can\'t buy happiness.......... That may or may not be true. But what it does buy is freedom. Freedom from poverty, freedom from the criminal justice system, freedom from oppression, freedom from health problems and freedom from addiction..............
I\'m so sorry for all that you experienced with regard to Cara. I\'m sorry for all that she had to go through. But mostly, I\'m sorry we live in a country that always seems to be saying one thing and doing another.
I love you E......... Hang in there.