No, there's no 1:1 obs. If you are suicidal, you have to leave the unit and go to your local psych ward. Then you go back to the CRU when the crisis has passed. But, say if you are on your local psych ward for two weeks, you do not get those two weeks back at the CRU. You will have lost them from your admission.
The therapy is very intense (you do get breaks during the day) but you quickly get used to it. You are free in the evenings to watch tv in the lounge or go to your room, or go for walks in the grounds of the hospital or even walk into town.
The age range is 17-65, but when I was there, the majority of the other residents were between 25-40.
Personally, it didn't help me because I feel I went there at the wrong point in my life. I didn't want to get better. But everyone else did, and 99% of the people I was there with have now pretty much completely stopped self harming.
Oh, and the unit is actually a large house. There's not a hospital feel to it at all, which is why I liked it. And the nurses keep themselves to themselves when they are not in groups. They don't sit and watch you or anything.
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