Posted by Kath on February 20, 2009, at 8:06:50
In reply to Re: A nice thing happened. » Kath, posted by SLS on February 19, 2009, at 22:04:31
> > And this afternoon, he started talking to me about how he feels has too much spare time & he's ready to go forward getting involved in a program offered by the YMCA. He even phoned & left a message for them to call him.
>
> I'm sorry for not knowing the story behind this.
>
> How old is he?
>
> What has held him back in the past?
>
>
> - ScottOh My Gosh Scott - it's more like a saga! It began when he was 14 (is 25 in March). Started doing pot; skipping school; choosing 'not good news' people to hang out with. It escalated over the years; more drugs/worse drugs/ a few times of 'tough love' when, as a result of refusing to go to school OR work, he chose what he knew was the alternative - to not live in our home (when friends' couches weren't there, he was on the street)...went to Vancouver around 17 yrs old, where biological dad was; ended up on streets there. All the time the drugs were getting stronger, etc. 2 years ago he & GF were in Vancouver again due to him being paranoid here in Ontario & needing to 'get away from' whoever. Cocaine; crack; out there crystal meth. Ended in him being hospitalized out there for a month; full-blown psychosis; voices ordering him really bad things. We're lucky he's here still. So he's got schizophrenia now (meds work unless he does cocaine). It's been pretty awful. This place has been a sanitysaver for me! Lots of ups & downs. At one point he was planning to live in a tent under a local huge concrete storm drain.
Mentally he's doing really well. Main symptoms are sometimes sort of spacey. Anyway it's a huge burden for me & hard to detach. Has been living with us since June. Tried a few jobs part-time off & on. Had one for a couple of months before Christmas. Stress was building up. Drug-use over holidays was, I suspect, the straw that broke the camel's back in him having panic attack & walking out.
SO this readiness to move forward with the YMCA program is wonderful.
CMHA (Can Mental Health Assoc) has a wonderful Helping Overcome Psychosis Early program & our worker is great. It's client-driven, so he chooses how much use he makes of it.
Anyway, sorry for going into it. You seemed sincere in asking what the history was, so I wanted to tell you in more than a couple of sentences. The whole saga is here on the boards!! LOL
Thanks for being such a nice person & such a good support.
:-)) Kathryn
poster:Kath
thread:881125
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20090209/msgs/881268.html