Drug-free Mental Health inpatient treatment?

[turil.livejournal.com]

I just called the Cambridge Health Alliance Mental Health emergency services and wanted to check myself in. Before I went in, I wanted to be assured that they wouldn't drug me without my consent. The woman said that she could not "arbitrarily" assure me of that, got angry with me, and actually hung up on me while I was crying. (Seriously.)

So I'm kind of in need of finding some place local that doesn't drug people without consent, and that might have some staff that don't actively try to be mean to depressed individuals looking for help...

Any suggestions?

I also don't have any health insurance or money.

(No, I'm not officially suicidal yet, but I'd rather get this taken care of before that happens, you know?)

Comments

[peregrinehill.livejournal.com]

Boy, have I been where you are. Something about mental health places, when you're at your worst they want you to hand over your self-determination on a plate. My advice, if you can stand it, is to avoid the emergency room or urgent care. If you can make it until Monday, then you can find maybe a short-term sliding-scale therapist. They, unlike urgent care intake people are not COMPLETE JERKS.

And I have a really good huge ear for short term crises like these, and the added benefit is you don't even know me, so shoot an email this way if you'd like. I am nice.

And occasionally soothing or witty.