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  • Mental Health Diversion Program + Refusal of Treatment ...

    Hello,


    A little over a year ago, I was charged with two counts of assault - One count was for assaulting my father (we were merely wrestling on the floor, my mother saw this, etc), and the second count was for assaulting a police officer (this never happened! It was actually the other way around, I was assaulted by an officer...).

    I'm 20 years old, and prior to these charges, I've never been in trouble with the law.

    A few months before these incidents, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia (my father has the same illness, but he doesn't take his medication) and I was prescribed medication. The medication made me feel awful, so I stopped. I dropped out of school, stopped working, and almost never went out. On top of it all, I started treating my symptoms through the use of alcohol - this got out of hand and eventually worsened the symptoms which I was trying to control.

    After spending the night in jail, I was released the next day and I was able to live at home with my family (including my father). Also, I was accepted for the Mental Health Diversion Program. Part of this program, I'm told, requires me to take meds and go to therapy. For the first few months, I was co-operating, but over time, the meds and the therapy sessions wore me out and made me depressed. Furthermore, my case worker seems to be intentionally trying to make me feel bad by constantly telling me that my brain is "dysfunctional". I really believe that I'm being mistreated. I gave this program a fair chance (the treatments for my illness don't work for everyone) and in the beginning I was open and felt like these people wanted to help me; I asked questions and discussed whatever came up in the conversation. Now, I try to say as little as possible and I'm refusing treatment of any kind.

    I've been in this program for over an year, what can I do? I believe that I'll make the most progress by isolating myself from this mental illness business. This program, instead of helping me, is making things worse for my mental health. I have a lawyer (legal aid), but she doesn't seem to help much...

    What are my options? It seems like such a waste to have gone through the program for so many months only to have it not count in the end... And I really can't go through the treatment! Please help.

    I feel like people aren't telling me things for one reason or another.


    Thanks for your time,

    Denise

  • #2
    I'm sorry for your sad experiences, it must be very frustrating.

    You're story is sad because, rightly or wrongly, you have been in trouble with law, have been diagnosed and are now withdrawing/refusing treatment.

    Unfortunately, once the mental health community diagnoses you, you can be pigeon-holed and your refusal to accept treatment looks bad, again rightly or wrongly. Worse, it's not easy to change people's minds, so it will be easy for people to dismiss your position.

    Do you have related family law issues? This is a forum for folks with those issues.

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