Alex's Story 2023 #helpforAlex Part 3 the search

Friday morning I called several hospitals and only 1 was available for an evaluation. The other 2 I had to wait till Tuesday after Labor Day. We visited Reflections in the Colony and felt really hopefully. Unfortunately they don’t accept my insurance and it would have been 6k for the first 3 weeks.

PHP or partial hospitalization is when a patient check into the location in the morning and checks out in the afternoon. During that time they seek a therapist, have private sessions, group therapy, activities, school, and see a psychiatrist. It’s about $378 a day nothing including the psychiatrist bill.

After 3 weeks they evaluate and if the child is ready they step down to a IOP which is basically the same thing just half a day. It’s typically a 6-8 week process.

This will be my 5th go around for my children. (Long story, I can’t disclose legally, but I have raised my kids all alone 100% of the time since 2017.)

We wait it out over the weekend and I we put him on suicide watch and 24 hour surveillance until Tuesday. Alex said he was safe and he knew he didn’t want to die, he wanted to get better but the demons in his head are still there. Tuesday morning we visit Carrollton Springs changes in Frisco and it’s a good place, great reviews, highly recommended. We set Alex up to start Wednesday morning to a healthy start at reaching his goals. It’s a small group of about 7 kids all roughly the same age and they have Guinea pigs… that sealed the deal because they have 3 Guinea pigs of their own.

They were very helpful (and in network). It’s about 50 miles round trip from home, there, work, and back. They offer zoom meetings for parents dealing with children who struggle with MH which is the only place I’ve ever seen that offers that. Most of the time they leave the parents to fend for themselves.

I think overall Mental health is as hard as it gets. It’s still new to me, I’m from a generation that had never even heard of mental health until I got into the Army and even then it was frowned upon. Even after I returned from Afghanistan in 2004 Mental health wasn’t even a “thing.” It wasn’t even really treated. Being a man you’re just told to suck it up and move on.

I wanted to tell you all that receiving, assistance, love, and messages and encouragement from everyone here has really helped us.

I don’t like doing this anymore than anyone else. But, as a full time single father I have to do what needs to be done for my kids.