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Don't wreck yourself. There will always be light in the cell.

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Why does it seem mental health professionals are so blind? I'm currently out of therapy, but I was feeling unsafe one day after a bad relapse I drove to a therapy place that I was recommended from my last place. I walk in, ask for a meet up any time that day and she's just like "here's the number call outside of the room for next week"..I could have relapsed more or even worse but I was trying to get help and she's like "ya we can't. Go to the hospital if needed "

Hi Anon

I’m sorry you were struggling. I’m glad you reached out - in those situations, the best bet is going to be the crisis hotline numbers or texting services, mobile crisis if your area has one or to the hospital if you were concerned for your safety. I’m not sure that you’ll read this but this is why those resources will serve you better in the moment then going to a physical, non-emergency location.

I don’t know any clinic or individual therapist who would take a client off the street without being a crisis center or a hospital. It’s not that they are blind or indifferent to suffering. It’s for the safety of the clients currently being treated, the safety of the professionals/admin staff and the person in crisis. The clinical staff in this situation had no choice. They didn’t know you. They have zero information about what the risks are or safety zones are (i.e. is this a client with paranoid psychosis who if you mention mobile crisis will escalate? Who is your emergency contact? Is this someone who feels intensely suicidal but it will pass in about an hour? Does this person lash out towards staff? Is there a drug or alcohol history? And that’s just the examples that took me a minute to come up with). There is no relationship to fall back on. I have gotten so many of my clients out of the critical “fuck we need to hospitalize” zone because I know them and they trust me. I have a connection I can use to help stabilize them. I care about them, I don’t lie to them, and they know it. They know, whether or not they agree with it, my motivation is to make sure they are safe. You don’t get that with a client you haven’t worked with.

Not only that, there were clients being served. When you showed up, there were probably people in the rooms being seen. Agencies tend to have a waitlist of people waiting to be seen. It’s rarely drop in. Or if they have drop in hours - they are limited. I have an out-of-the-ordinary flexibility in my agency job and if someone who had been referred showed up but whom I had never treated, I’d still take them to the nurse/psychologists/etc. for a referral to the crisis team or a 5150. This might be different for a former client (but probably not. I wouldn’t have consent to treat). If it was current client? Probably but it would depend on who I had in the room - some of my clients are very flexible with moving their time around for crisis situations and others were struggle and a current client would have to wait until I was available. Most of the day, I’m super booked. The time I’m not with clients, I’m talking to parents or staff, my supervisor or fellow therapists on the team, writing notes or assessments or other paperwork, figuring out what I’m going to do with the next client or just taking a breather and fucking around on facebook and letting my brain recharge. If we (mental health folks) said yes to everything and everyone in crisis, we would have nothing left for ourselves or our clients. Sometimes that really fucking sucks but it’s necessary.

I really hope that if you reach out in the future you are able to get the help and support you need and deserve.