Trauma Program: My experience
The Trauma Program at Hartgrove Behavioral Health System addresses the impact of traumatic stress on the health and well-being of children, adolescents, and adults. Patients in the program receive comprehensive screening and assessment services, trauma-sensitive group services, and when clinically appropriate trauma-focused individual therapy services. This is the experience of one of our patients, in their own words.
Go ahead and tell us a little about your experience with our Trauma Program:
“What it did was let me know that somebody actually cared. Gave me an avenue to say what I wanted to say, to vent, you know, to get my frustrations out… they showed me that they cared. They showed me that my opinion mattered. What’s in my heart and in my head can come out of my mouth and I won’t be assassinated for it.”
“The counselor let me know that by me having this trauma in my life, due to my getting hit in the head, I’ve been going through that since 2002, due to the trial for my son getting killed in 2011, going through trial last week.”
“They let me know that there is hope. That what I’m going through, I’m not by myself… because I was thinking that I was by myself. It was an open door for me to say what I wanted to say instead of being bogged down because sometimes as human beings we feel alone and I feel like I wasn’t alone when I came into this place. I was alone when I got here, but I felt like I had somebody that actually cared once I was here.”
“I have been in these other centers and they didn’t have programs like this. They knew I had trauma to my head just before my son got killed and it’s like OK, sorry to hear that, we’ve got these pills for you. Take these pills and deal with it. And that’s not the solution to these problems you know? Pills only do so much but you need somebody and an avenue to express yourself and somebody to ask you questions and you get a chance to respond to them and that’s what this hospital has done for me.”
What brought you here?
“I just happened to walk up… I was drinking and drugging. And I just got tired… and sick and tired and I said you know what, I’m gonna end up killing myself. I had a knife on my hip and I said you know what, I’m tired of living like this. I can’t go no farther, I have grandkids and I have a son I said I gotta get out of this and I happened to walk up to the hospital and here I am. I had the knife with me, my brother took my gun from me because I wanted to kill myself. I just gave up all hope, I walked in there and they took the knife from me and I ended up here. And I’m glad I’m here. These people have been amazing. And this ain’t no speech. This is what it is, you know?”
That’s great, we’re glad you have had a good experience with us:
“I had a great experience.”
And you got some tools to…
“Yea I got something to work with. Something that tells me there’s some hope. It’s not just by chance that I’m here. It’s God sent that I’m here. And everyone here has been going out of their way to try and help me. And I never heard of no trauma program. They need to put this on the news. You know it needs to be known that there’s some help out there whether its inpatient or outpatient. Because it’s well needed and I think if some people had an avenue such as this, it would help them… even if it’s only minute.”
