Tree of hope

11 Aug 2015 22 Comments

by willowdot21 in Uncategorized Tags: anguish, Depression, desperation, Fear, hopelessness, Mental health issues

Today I visited a friend in a psychiatric unit : One wall was decorated with the Tree of Hope logo. This is what I saw and felt.

Tree of hope
Is this a joke
Lost souls wandering
Bored staff pondering.

Angry women strutting
Locked door are shutting
Tempers are fraying.
Any point in praying.

One step forward three back .

Covers for the care they lack.

Man shouting he needs his phone

His eyes ask will he find his way home

Tree of hope
Is this a joke
Lost souls wandering
Bored staff pondering.

22 Comments (+add yours?)

DailyMusings
Aug 11, 2015 @ 20:05:37

Both images are beautiful- and I suppose it is important not to lose hope when faced with what seems like an unending uphill battle. I hope your friend finds a place of peace within

Reply
- willowdot21
  Aug 11, 2015 @ 20:09:29
  
  Thank you so much, I do hope she will too, so young to be in such a bad dark place! I am praying for her.
  
  Reply
TanGental
Aug 11, 2015 @ 21:02:34

Grim reality captured with stiletto sharp poetry

Reply
- willowdot21
  Aug 11, 2015 @ 21:11:25
  
  It is worse each time I visit!
  
  Reply
gigoid
Aug 11, 2015 @ 21:24:09

Good work on the poem; it saddens me, as I used to be a psychiatric technician at California state mental hospitals.

When the staff is overworked, underpaid, and poorly supported, the patients suffer as well… Most of the people who work in psych units are good people, overwhelmed. Some are just not very good at it, or are of the ilk who don’t want to have to work at all…. much like the aides and poorly trained young people they’re putting to work in hospitals and medical clinics now to save $$. The good places , private institutions for those with a lot of gelt, or some of the state facilities with some experienced, well-trained staff, can be uplifting to see; the bad ones, such as what you seem to be seeing there, are hellholes… and nobody deserves that….

As you see, makes me want to rant, as it is all because those in power have no time, energy, or interest in spending money to help the poor,whom they have created with their avarice,, and the vulnerable in society, such as the mentally ill…

Assholes….

Sorry, gets me going, it does…

gigoid

Reply
- willowdot21
  Aug 11, 2015 @ 21:53:11
  
  Never be sorry I agree with every word you have said . My blood was boiling today as I watched things broiling up and saw what looked like apathy from the staff… in fact I found it hard to work out who were staff and who were patients , apart from name badges of staff I could not differentiate! Yes medicine and especially psychiatric medicine has it’s two sides the haves and the have nots, the blessed and the not blessed!! I too can rant!!
  
  Reply
Paul
Aug 11, 2015 @ 23:58:13

Willow, mental illness is seriously underfunded, ignored and treated as if it is not an illness. It is the same here. You know daily there are mentally ill who are processed by our courts and placed in prison when they need help? The problem is so acute here that they are training prison guards how to deal with the mentally ill. It has always been stigmatized and treated as the poor brother of physical illness. It is society’s “don’t ask and don’t tell” subject. And that is wrong.

Reply
- willowdot21
  Aug 12, 2015 @ 18:07:40
  
  Sadly all you say is true in this country too!I am too upset to discuss it much right now. Sorry.
  
  Reply
Brenda Davis Harsham
Aug 12, 2015 @ 02:38:47

Mental health care is mostly still in the dark ages. We need an Age of Enlightenment to open doors for us to really care for each other. To form connections and find healing, a better chemical balance. Our self-worth and our valuation of others should not hinge entirely on productivity or bank balance.

Reply
- willowdot21
  Aug 12, 2015 @ 05:10:41
  
  Yes I agree but if you challenge it they will say they are doing everything they can and the system works… I don’t think so. I agree with you. xxx
  
  Reply
  - Brenda Davis Harsham
    Aug 12, 2015 @ 09:44:02
    
    They could use some fresh ideas. And to care as much as people do who work on serious illness wards. Maybe we need a hospice care option that comes in before hospitalization, with the same gentle care and honesty.
  - willowdot21
    Aug 12, 2015 @ 17:59:50
    
    That would be wonderful but in the real world that is never going to happen!
  - Brenda Davis Harsham
    Aug 13, 2015 @ 03:31:39
    
    Yes. But then who ever thought hospice itself would come into being?
  - willowdot21
    Aug 13, 2015 @ 05:18:16
    
    True very true. xx
- willowdot21
  Aug 12, 2015 @ 18:06:04
  
  Amen to all the above! They have let my friend down again and discharged her daughter without warning, a care plan by your leave or courtsey! The poor girl does not want to be discharged yet. There is no sense, no sense to any of this particular nightmare.
  
  Reply
  - Brenda Davis Harsham
    Aug 13, 2015 @ 03:32:51
    
    Oh, I hope she is okay. It’s so frightening.
  - willowdot21
    Aug 13, 2015 @ 05:17:20
    
    Thank you so do I .
socialbridge
Aug 12, 2015 @ 07:26:12

Willow, what a dark place, in every sense.
I’ve seen excellent and no so excellent psyciatric units here. I think the staff can be the difference. No point having beautiful building if it lacks humanity and deep-seated care.

Reply
- willowdot21
  Aug 12, 2015 @ 18:01:58
  
  This place was neither a beautiful building nor a had it caring staff I am not at all sure what it had going for it!
  
  Reply
  - socialbridge
    Aug 13, 2015 @ 14:37:00
    
    No, it sounds particularly grim which is so sad and harsh.
  - willowdot21
    Aug 13, 2015 @ 16:08:03
    
    It was very sad.
  - socialbridge
    Aug 13, 2015 @ 16:53:12
    
    I can’t ‘like’ that!