The psychiatric emergency department is not where you want to end up. Yes, it’s an essential piece of every big hospital, but it’s not a happy place. mental illness — often silent, minimized, and neglected — can become so severe that it bursts forth conspicuously from their brains and force the people into involuntary incarceration. The Psych ED receives these people and gathers them in one confined space.
Here, let me describe it.
When you visit 2 North at Westchester, you might find 20 teenagers hanging out in a spacious sunlit living room. There’s a big group crowded noisily around a card table as they play Egyptian Ratscrew, slapping their hands in as fast as they can and laughing raucously as cards fly everywhere. Kids are lounging on comfy couches, some conversing quietly with each other, others idly doodling on folders, others next to them read well-worn paperbacks. One sits at a bay window looking out onto the lush lawns and groves of upstate New York. They’re all clad in pajamas and sweats and slippers, all without makeup, all without pretense. There’s not a cellphone in sight. The place looks so placidly idyllic that you might wonder why a place like this exists in a modern world like ours. Well…
NYP Westchester is a dedicated psychiatric hospital, and 2 North is the adolescent unit. Almost all of kids there are admitted for depression and suicidal ideation. Continue reading The 2 North Milieu