1. What are the sleeping arrangements like?? mixed sex dormitories? single sex dormitories? maybe a room to myself?
Depends whether you're in a private or public hospital, adolescent ward, and so on. I was in an NHS adult unit. Some of the time I was in intensive nursing and there we had individual rooms and a shared wash room. When I was moved down from INA, I was in female dorms. Female and male sleeping areas were seperate.
2. What are eating arrangements like?? will i have to attend sit down meals? what is the food like? are there really people trying to make themselves sick at the dinner table like i have read in books?
Again this depends on the unit- and what you're in for. Generally people on my ward all sat down to meals together. There were set meal times and you came and got food off the little food trolley. There was usually two or three options per meal including vegetarian, and the fridge was open access all day where you could help yourself to sandwiches, yoghurts, jellies, fruit etc. There were also facilities for making your own drinks. I was told I had to eat- the anorexics were basically in an eat or be tubed situation any way cos they weighed you a lot. They allowed me to eat on my own to start with so i didnt have to eat infront of any one, but this was a general psych ward and this would most likely not be allowed in an ED unit. Last time when I refused to eat, I wasn't allowed to leave the ward. No one tried to make themselves sick at the table.
3. What therapy will i receive? will i still get one on one counselling or will it all be group therapy? will i be expected to attend sessions like art therapy?
In adult psych, I recieved no therapy at all. It was really there to keep me safe until the crisis was over rather than improve my health. There was a program of activities run by the OTs which you could take advantage of, but they werent therepeutic in the sense of talking about your problems, they were just general sessions of things like art or movie group or yoga or cooking. Attendence at the groups was optional but actively encouraged. The only "therapy" I had was when my social worker from the community came in to visit, so in that respect it was no different from the kind of support I'd be getting out of hospital, in fact it was even less. You are assigned a primary nurse who is supposed to be there if you need to talk and discuss any issues about hospital or just talk over other things, but in both my admissions, I never had one to one therapy with my primary nurse once.
4. What would you advice i take with me? Am i allowed to take my blades? is there anything that im not allowed to take?
You will not be allowed any blades or sharps, pills, razors anything like that. This is not only for your own safety, but for the safety of the other patients too. If you need to use scissors or a razor, then you have to ask the staff. They will most likely search EVERYTHING. When I bought my stuff in, she went through all the CD cases and opened them, and shook them out, books, all my pockets and clothing...basically anything and everything I could have used to hide stuff in. And they know all the tricks in the book! Things to take with you: um it can be very boring on the ward so definately something to do. I bought in puzzle mags. Occasionally nights can be a bit noisy, espcially if you're in dorms so an ipod with music on to relax you and block out noise if you need some peace. Oh big bummer for us, we weren't allowed camera phones ( in case you film other patients) so if you want a phone, probably best to take an old rubbishy one. And where I was, we weren't allowed lap tops either or computers.
5. Will i be allowed to lock the toilet door? will a nurse really have to watch me whilst i poo?
Depends on your observation level. All the wash rooms had locks on them and we were allowed in there on our own, but if you're put on high observation then they can go in to the bathroom with you.
6. What about visitors? will my friends be allowed to come and see me??
We were allowed visting 6-9 weekdays and free visiting up til 9 at weekends. This was mainly because it fitted in with the staff changeovers. And yes, my friends were allowed to come visit me!
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