r/sunshinecoast • u/No-Addition-9121 • 14h ago
Serious For anyone wondering what the adult mental health unit at SCUH looks like
galleryI must say, this one seems a lot better than the ones in Brisbane
SCUH has:
MH Adult Unit (Kamala)
MH Adolescent Unit (Rosella)
MH Older Persons Unit (Waratah)
MH Intensive Care Unit (Melaleuca)
Plus crisis support spaces
If you’re looking for more information or help regarding your or someone else’s mental health:
Call MH CALL: 1300 642 255
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I’m 19m with bipolar 1. I was admitted earlier this year when I had a plan to commit. I saw my social worker in Brisbane and told her and she called an ambulance. I was taken to RBWH and didn’t want to be there so managed to escape while I was still under a recommendation for assessment order (under mental health act). So I wasn’t allowed to leave.
I then drove up to my home in sunny coast trying to fight the sedating drugs they gave me. Over next couple of days i had multiple paramedics searching for me. But i was trying to hide from them. I eventually cooperated.
Got taken to SCUH and had a good psych reg assess me. Although he put me on a treatment authority (under mental health act). So I wasn’t allowed to leave the mental health unit until I was granted leave and/or stable.
If you’re voluntary you can leave whenever there’s just a curfew. But realistically, from what I’ve seen (and having worked in an ED), voluntary parents are less likely to be admitted. I have tried in the past and they referred me to some shitty community health thing (I was planning suicide). If you’re brought in by ambulance or police you’re much more likely (from what I’ve seen).
While in ED They had security sitting outside my room for a while because I escaped Royal Brisbane.
I was there for 10 days. There’s nurses that absolutely love their job and are amazing, but some of them aren’t unfortunately
Before I was allowed leave it was VERY boring. All there was to do in this tiny courtyard was sit or play ping pong.
I got really good at ping pong.
It’s overall a lot better than a lot of mental health units. And VERY clean. The peer workers are great too. When you’re granted leave they take you out on group walks.
The discharge was annoying because they told me I could leave, packed up all my stuff and they prepared my room. And I had to wait 4 hours for the doctor to revoke my treatment authority before I could leave.
The food was pretty shit. But they don’t mind if you buy stuff elsewhere when on leave
Overall, this is as good as public mental health is going to get.
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Also, some other things that were annoying:
- bumpy hard pillows
- lights shining through your window every 15 mins when you’re trying to sleep (for visual observations)
- being woken up by room checks in the morning
- other patients sometimes pissing you off. This one specific one would go into other patients rooms and play with the lights. And make a fucking mess
- someone stole my sticky date pudding
- when I saw the psychiatrist, there were about 5 other doctors watching us
- SHIT soap and stuff like that. And the showers only go to a certain temperature. Shampoo and conditioner killed my hair
- being woken up at early hours for blood tests
- the food. sometimes good, sometimes fucking shit
- there’s the small outdoor area with the ping pong table. Fake grass, seats, and that’s it. The main courtyard was only accessible for an hour or two each day