Alex's Story 2023 #helpforAlex Part 1 a cry for help

Warning! This story will be raw and honest!

Alex my son, who is 12 has been suffering from major depression for a few years now. This isn’t his first PHP stay. Back in April - May of 2023 Alex had a previous episode that I kept quiet.

(Side note)

Alex was born Isabella on October 10th, 2010. I’ve been a full time single Dad raising my 3 kids since 2017. Around age 9 Alex came to me and said he felt like he should have been born a boy and that he wanted to change his name and his gender to male.

Politics and religion aside this is hard pill to swallow and navigate as a dad. But, I support Alex because it’s his body, mind, heart, and soul not mine.

Sunday night August 27th-

Alex decided in an attempt to take his own life. Thankfully he immediately regretted the decision and told me he messed up and was scared. I grabbed him and we rushed to the ER.It was one hell of a night as they pumped him full of charcoal and monitored his vitals. We were both exhausted. He slept in the bed and I laid on the ground trying to get about 2 hours of sleep.

I don't what makes people do what they do. Why kids do things this day and age make such impulsive decisions. Maybe it’s social media, bullying, pressure from the constant negativity, or instant access to too much content and information that create a feeling like there is no hope. I wish I could get inside by kids brain sometimes but I know that's not how it works.

At around 4am Monday morning a “behavioral health specialist” came to the room and spoke about what happened and what our options were. Now, this is where the story starts to take a turn for the worst.

We were not given many options. I’m not 100% familiar with locations for children and I know the options are slim. It was presented to me that they would recommend a location called Millwood in Arlington. It has a 1.9 ⭐️ rating. My choices were to transport my child here voluntarily or they would be forced to have the doctor get a court order and call CPS. So, I trusted them. (Also want to mention that this person told me they get compensated if they use certain hospitals 🤷🏻‍♂️)

Monday morning we transferred Alex via ambulance because it’s mandatory to Millwood and arrived around 9am. No one ever sat down with us and spoke to us. No one ever went over any information. I was given some papers to fill and sign and we waited in a room until 3pm that day until a nurse came in. He rushed through some things and had me sign more papers. I asked a few questions and was told everything would be fine and he said they had Groups, doctors, nurses, therapists, and a great plan.

I was supposed to receive a phone call between 6-8pm from but never did. The following day I made several attempts to call the location and finally spoke to a therapist. She went through a laundry list of questions asking about my child and what was going on. As I tried to give detailed information I was cut off multiple times and asked to give less information. It sounded as if she was just checking off boxes and rushing me instead of wanting to listen to me.

Tuesday morning around 11am I got a phone call from a very unprofessional administrator named Cheri to tell me that my portion of the bill was $2,400 and asked me how I wanted to pay. I asked for a breakdown and a possible payment plan. She explains that was my deductible plus co insurance. I told her I wasn’t in a place to discuss this and I hadn’t even spoken to anyone at the location about how Alex was doing, how long would be there? nothing. I was shocked!

I immediately called the patient advocate for the facility to file a complaint. I had not been given an update or any information about how my Child was doing and the plan of action yet they wanted my money. I’m sure that’s typical but, again I was already pretty stressed at that point. About 5:30pm on Tuesday I finally talk to Alex for about 3 minutes and that was only because they gave them permission to call me and ask for more clothes then he had to get off the phone.

The doctor called me around 7:30pm to ask consent for some medication and he asked me a couple questions and we did get to talk about the medication. That was a slight relief.