In-patient Adolescent Treatment Centers in Canada (Depression/PDs)?

[yodelwithyu]

I am sorry if this is not the right place to post, if it isn't, please move it to where it will get most traffic and help!

 

I am looking for people who have had experiences with going to or having sent their teenagers to residential treatment programs for depressed, personality disordered and suicidal teens. Or a program just for women (as her parents are very old school.)

 

The country I live in has no such care, and this girl's parents have no idea what they are dealing with or how to deal with it at all. Mental health is not at all understood in this country. Her body is full of self-harm cut marks from her upper arms down to her wrists, from her ribcage to her pelvis (all the way side to side and up and down), and from her thighs to her knees. I have no idea how she survived a specific cut on her wrist which is vertical, and at least a few millimeters wide. Medication and therapy every day has done very little to change her mindset about suicide.

 

She is a Canadian citizen but currently lives abroad, and I am pretty sure her parents can afford private care in Canada. She needs to be in a regimented, medical setting with group therapy and other types of therapy that is just not available in this country. These types of services are much more readily available in the west, so I am hoping to find one suitable for her.

 

Please anyone know of any centers other than what google pops out? I have already complied a list from my own search and presented it to the father. I have also included McLean hospital in Massachusetts. I really fear this girl is running out of time and needs help ASAP. Please let me know if you guys have ANY information/experiences.

[preraph]

I can't give you a place name, but I have some knowledge of adolescent mental health facilities. They will likely have boys and girls BUT they will almost certainly have them totally separated. Ask how many psychologists and psychiatrists the place has on staff, whether one is always there, and how often each patient sees a psychologist or psychiatrist. If they use the word "counselor" instead, they may be light on qualified people and relying on less expensive non-licensed people to do most of it. Don't get a place that's like a nursing home where they only have a nurse and the doctor only comes round once a month or something. Find a place that has active psychological therapy at the very least weekly with someone on staff at all times.

Because abuse often happens in these places, I would also ask them if there are male or female guards in the girls' unit or both. Really, you don't want male guards right there with access to their rooms, in my opinion! Male doctors are okay, and they'll likely have males to bring a person into the facility since some resist. But they shouldn't be right there on the ward unattended.

 

Also, when a child needs therapy, that means the whole family needs therapy, so be sure it's their practice to work on the girl for awhile and then bring the family in to work on them, or nothing will be solved, and that's the truth.

 

Also be aware that part of their patients will be court-ordered juveniles who have been in trouble. So you need to ask about that mix. Don't want the poor girl getting bullied or coming out worse than she went in.

 

Private psychological counseling may be all she needs, so be sure they've tried that first before institutionalizing her because there are some negatives.

Good luck.

Edited February 16, 2016 by preraph

[yodelwithyu]

Thank you so much for your response. I am working with the father directly to find an appropriate place at the moment. Definitely looking for places that do not have court-ordered juveniles or male guards.

 

As for private counseling, it wasn't helping. We did that for about two months with only minimal progress, thought we did therapy six days a week for the first month.

 

Thank you again so much for the details you mentioned to look out for. I am sure I would have not even thought of most of it!