LIVEALITTLE

I volunteered to fulfill my Mental Health Clinical requirement at Long Bay Jail's Hospital facility in the hopes of a "more interesting" experience. When it came time to choose one of four wards, Brian and I chose the ward which treated the most acute psychiatric patients -- the infamous "D Ward". Our time on the ward has been pretty slow. Staff have been nervous about students socializing amongst the patients but I was able to squeeze in two games of chess yesterday. Some of these patients have very high cognitive abilities. Or maybe they just have had enough time to figure out all the chess strategies.
My life was threatened today by a new patient who apparently was picked up from a car chase two days ago. He screamed "Let me out. I won't touch anyone. But I'll kill you!" Another patient prompted my RN when I saw him writing on this cell wall from the overhead cell camera. We quickly walked to the patient's cell and realized he was writing on the wall with his blood. He bit into his arm to draw blood and eventually wrote: "I want a shower. Thank you." He's had a history of drug induced psychosis and suicide attempts. Just last night, he schredded his blanket into slices, tied them together and made a noose.
Mental Health Nursing has otherwise been quite sedate and uneventful. Sadly, it seems like these patients are treated like animals. I've wondered if maybe they are driven to further madness from the mind-numbingly boring days which gets exacerbated with the 101 side effects of antipsychotic drugs...

More info on Long Bay Correctional Centre:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Bay_Correctional_Centre