***The following is a fictional account of a teenager who has Bipolar Disorder and Conduct Disorder. Some content may be triggering. Reader discretion advised***
I have been in Spring Creek for about one month now and to be perfectly honest, I do not like it here. I know that I am not supposed to like it here because it is a jail, but I actually miss the mental hospital. The food sucks, the other guys here are always testing my patience, and the staff does not seem to care about me whatsoever. The other day I was walking to the bathroom and this Mexican guy got in my face so I told him that if he is feeling froggy then leap. Needless to say, he did not really want to test me. I have sort of built a reputation in the Jaguar pod as someone not to be tested because of my anger issues. I think the other guys here are somewhat afraid of me. I have been enthralled with reading the Bible during the times we have to be in our cells, but I am not sure if I want to become born again, as Mr. Jerome called it. I mean, these stories are interesting, to say the least, but how do I know that they are true? After all, this book was written thousands of years ago. How am I supposed to know if the book is even accurate in what it portrays? I admit that this Jesus Character is a trip though because there is this story where he scared off some people with a whip. I guess Jesus must have a lot of anger issues like I do. Maybe that is something I have in common with him, but I couldn't imagine whipping anyone just because they made me angry. There is also this story about a woman who was caught in adultery and Jesus said that whoever is without sin, they can cast the first stone. I am not going to pretend that I understand the implications of that story, but it is interesting how everyone there just walked away. You mean to tell me that out of all those people not a single one of them can say they are without sin? I find that pretty remarkable because I do not think I am a sinner myself. Sure, I am not perfect by any means, but I do not lie and I sure as heck never murdered anyone. I also read somewhere that Jesus cried and I find that pretty weak of Him. Why would this guy who was tough enough to drive a group of people away with a whip cry about anything? I have always thought that crying is a sign of weakness but here this Jesus guy cried. Why would anyone worship such a pansy like that? It boggles my mind.
Mrs. Hernandez lets us out of the cells so we can line up. It is rec time and I get excited about that because this is my favorite time of the day. We all line up in a single file line and count off and then we walk out of the pod. As we are walking down the hallway, another line of guys from Tiger Pod walks past us so we have to stop and face the wall until they are completely passed us. Once they are passed us, we can resume walking again. We enter the gym and Mr. Johnson has us stand about three feet away from each other in two rows. Then, he has us doing jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, and run suicides too. It is the same workout routine that we do every day and I absolutely love it. Afterward, he has us run laps around the gym for the rest of the hour or so. Then, we must get back in line and count off before walking back to our pod. Once we are in the pod, we have free time to watch TV or play cards or whatever we want to do. I decided to try playing Spades with three other guys: Jacob, Marley, and Joseph. I feel like the odd man out because I am the only whiteboy, but these guys seem pretty cool. We are all getting along until Jacob keeps trying to rubberneck. Rubbernecking is a slang term that means he is trying to look at what is in my hand illegally. I decided to call him out on this and he denies it. This makes me really irritated. He tries to do it for a third time and this time I throw the cards in his face and he stands up to me. I stand up and face him too. He is a lot bigger than me, but I am not about to show this guy any fear. All of a sudden, he does something unexpected. He smiles at me.
"You have a lot of heart, whiteboy," he says as he sticks out his hand to shake mine. I am shocked about this gesture, but I shake his hand anyway. Then, we sit down and continue playing Spades and he does not try rubbernecking anymore. About half an hour later, Mrs. Hernandez called me to come up to the desk. I wonder why she is calling me because I did not do anything. Maybe she has seen the altercation me and Jacob almost had and she wants to know what happened. I slowly make my way to the front desk while preparing what it is I am going to say. However, once I walk up there, she tells me that my transportation has arrived. This catches me by surprise because I've been here so long that I forgot that I was supposed to be transferring to another facility. However, I am excited because this means I can finally get out of this joint. She tells me to go gather my things and be at the pod door in ten minutes. I do not need that much time because I do not have much, besides the books my parents gave me when they last paid me a visit. I go back to my cell to grab those books and say bye to my friends whom I was playing cards with.
"Don't come back here, whitey!" Jacob commands me, but I know that he is merely kidding around. I tell him I do not plan on coming back and we hug one another. I head to the pod door and Mrs. Hernandez expects me to count off before I exit. Then, we walked out to the front of the building and she gave me clothes that I came in with and told me to change into them. I do this quickly and step out of the holding cell and see two men standing at the front desk. They are wearing polo shirts with a logo that says "SPRTC" on them I do not know what that stands for, but I am just excited to be leaving. They introduce themselves as Mr. Michael and Mr. Sena. They sign me out and we head to their transport vehicle. It feels nice to be outside without being handcuffed and shackled.
"Have you ever been to Canon City before?" Mr. Sena asks me and I tell him that I have not. To be honest, I thought that they were taking me to Kansas City, but they told me that the town was only a thirty-minute drive from the Springs. I feel relieved that I am not leaving the state of Colorado because that means it will not be difficult for Kat and my parents to visit me. Mr. Michael asks me if I am hungry and I tell him I am. So we stop at a McDonald's drive-thru and they get a Double Quarter Pounder Combo Meal. I scarf that down quickly because I haven't had food this good in so long. I know they said the drive is only thirty minutes, but it feels like an eternity. I ask them to tell me about this program.
"It is actually a new facility that opened up six months ago," Mr. Sena tells me "It is for troubled youth like yourself. We have therapy groups, a school, and a gym. You basically will get from the program what you put into it. You can either make this six to nine months easy for yourself or you can get in trouble and make it difficult. The choice is yours, but we will not hold your hand." I like that they have a gym so this might not be so bad. It is weird that they just opened up. This means that I am one of the first kids to be there. Basically, I am being a guinea pig and I do not like the sound of that. But, it is whatever though because it cannot be as bad as Spring Creek.
As we approach the facility, I see that it is practically in the middle of nowhere. This means that if I try to run away, I will get lost. I do not plan on running away though. I am determined to make the most out of this program. We walk into the front doors and the first thing Mr. Sena has me do is step into a room and strip down to my boxers. This seems strange but familiar. I hand him my clothes and search through them. Then, we place my clothes on a chair, and hands me some lice shampoo. He tells me to shower real quick and then walks out. Why do these places keep making me do this? I know that I do not have lice, but I take the shower anyway. This time the shower is refreshing because it is very hot. I end up taking a full ten-minute shower and Mr. Sena knocks on the door and tells me to finish up. I get out of the shower and get my clothes back on and then I step out of the room.
Mr. Sena walks me to a conference room where we sit down and he has me sign some papers. These papers are basically a consent to treatment form, the rules of the facility, and my patient rights. I find all of this very tedious and uneventful. Afterward, he walked me to my unit, which is called Mt. Yale. I find that name to be very interesting. He tells me that this unit is for kids from the ages of 15 to 18. It is just like the Jaguar pod at Spring Creek. I hope it is nothing like Spring Creek though. We enter the unit and I am immediately greeted by a man with curly red hair and thick coke-bottle glasses. He is pretty scrawny too. I wonder if he ever worked out a day in his life.
"My name is Mr. Tony," He says while holding out his hand to shake mine "I will be your therapist on this unit". I extend my hand to shake his. He seems like a nice guy, but he also seems like a tool too. I do not think I need a therapist, but I will cooperate with the program. I figure if I fake it until I make it then I will get out of here sooner. Mr. Sena takes me to my room and I see two beds and two desks in it. Oh great, I am going to have a roommate! Well, hopefully, whoever he is, he is not a punk. If he is, then I am going to need to put him in his place. Mr. Sena and Mr. Tony leave me in the room and I lay down on the bed. I am not sure if it is because I slept on a thin gym mat for the last two months or whatever, but this bed is very comfortable. I end up drifting off to sleep while thinking of Kat and Amanda. I miss them both and hope they are alright. I think when I wake up, I will give Kat a call. She is probably worried sick about me right now.
***Stay Tuned For Part 8***
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Mrs. Hernandez lets us out of the cells so we can line up. It is rec time and I get excited about that because this is my favorite time of the day. We all line up in a single file line and count off and then we walk out of the pod. As we are walking down the hallway, another line of guys from Tiger Pod walks past us so we have to stop and face the wall until they are completely passed us. Once they are passed us, we can resume walking again. We enter the gym and Mr. Johnson has us stand about three feet away from each other in two rows. Then, he has us doing jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, and run suicides too. It is the same workout routine that we do every day and I absolutely love it. Afterward, he has us run laps around the gym for the rest of the hour or so. Then, we must get back in line and count off before walking back to our pod. Once we are in the pod, we have free time to watch TV or play cards or whatever we want to do. I decided to try playing Spades with three other guys: Jacob, Marley, and Joseph. I feel like the odd man out because I am the only whiteboy, but these guys seem pretty cool. We are all getting along until Jacob keeps trying to rubberneck. Rubbernecking is a slang term that means he is trying to look at what is in my hand illegally. I decided to call him out on this and he denies it. This makes me really irritated. He tries to do it for a third time and this time I throw the cards in his face and he stands up to me. I stand up and face him too. He is a lot bigger than me, but I am not about to show this guy any fear. All of a sudden, he does something unexpected. He smiles at me.
"You have a lot of heart, whiteboy," he says as he sticks out his hand to shake mine. I am shocked about this gesture, but I shake his hand anyway. Then, we sit down and continue playing Spades and he does not try rubbernecking anymore. About half an hour later, Mrs. Hernandez called me to come up to the desk. I wonder why she is calling me because I did not do anything. Maybe she has seen the altercation me and Jacob almost had and she wants to know what happened. I slowly make my way to the front desk while preparing what it is I am going to say. However, once I walk up there, she tells me that my transportation has arrived. This catches me by surprise because I've been here so long that I forgot that I was supposed to be transferring to another facility. However, I am excited because this means I can finally get out of this joint. She tells me to go gather my things and be at the pod door in ten minutes. I do not need that much time because I do not have much, besides the books my parents gave me when they last paid me a visit. I go back to my cell to grab those books and say bye to my friends whom I was playing cards with.
"Don't come back here, whitey!" Jacob commands me, but I know that he is merely kidding around. I tell him I do not plan on coming back and we hug one another. I head to the pod door and Mrs. Hernandez expects me to count off before I exit. Then, we walked out to the front of the building and she gave me clothes that I came in with and told me to change into them. I do this quickly and step out of the holding cell and see two men standing at the front desk. They are wearing polo shirts with a logo that says "SPRTC" on them I do not know what that stands for, but I am just excited to be leaving. They introduce themselves as Mr. Michael and Mr. Sena. They sign me out and we head to their transport vehicle. It feels nice to be outside without being handcuffed and shackled.
"Have you ever been to Canon City before?" Mr. Sena asks me and I tell him that I have not. To be honest, I thought that they were taking me to Kansas City, but they told me that the town was only a thirty-minute drive from the Springs. I feel relieved that I am not leaving the state of Colorado because that means it will not be difficult for Kat and my parents to visit me. Mr. Michael asks me if I am hungry and I tell him I am. So we stop at a McDonald's drive-thru and they get a Double Quarter Pounder Combo Meal. I scarf that down quickly because I haven't had food this good in so long. I know they said the drive is only thirty minutes, but it feels like an eternity. I ask them to tell me about this program.
"It is actually a new facility that opened up six months ago," Mr. Sena tells me "It is for troubled youth like yourself. We have therapy groups, a school, and a gym. You basically will get from the program what you put into it. You can either make this six to nine months easy for yourself or you can get in trouble and make it difficult. The choice is yours, but we will not hold your hand." I like that they have a gym so this might not be so bad. It is weird that they just opened up. This means that I am one of the first kids to be there. Basically, I am being a guinea pig and I do not like the sound of that. But, it is whatever though because it cannot be as bad as Spring Creek.
As we approach the facility, I see that it is practically in the middle of nowhere. This means that if I try to run away, I will get lost. I do not plan on running away though. I am determined to make the most out of this program. We walk into the front doors and the first thing Mr. Sena has me do is step into a room and strip down to my boxers. This seems strange but familiar. I hand him my clothes and search through them. Then, we place my clothes on a chair, and hands me some lice shampoo. He tells me to shower real quick and then walks out. Why do these places keep making me do this? I know that I do not have lice, but I take the shower anyway. This time the shower is refreshing because it is very hot. I end up taking a full ten-minute shower and Mr. Sena knocks on the door and tells me to finish up. I get out of the shower and get my clothes back on and then I step out of the room.
Mr. Sena walks me to a conference room where we sit down and he has me sign some papers. These papers are basically a consent to treatment form, the rules of the facility, and my patient rights. I find all of this very tedious and uneventful. Afterward, he walked me to my unit, which is called Mt. Yale. I find that name to be very interesting. He tells me that this unit is for kids from the ages of 15 to 18. It is just like the Jaguar pod at Spring Creek. I hope it is nothing like Spring Creek though. We enter the unit and I am immediately greeted by a man with curly red hair and thick coke-bottle glasses. He is pretty scrawny too. I wonder if he ever worked out a day in his life.
"My name is Mr. Tony," He says while holding out his hand to shake mine "I will be your therapist on this unit". I extend my hand to shake his. He seems like a nice guy, but he also seems like a tool too. I do not think I need a therapist, but I will cooperate with the program. I figure if I fake it until I make it then I will get out of here sooner. Mr. Sena takes me to my room and I see two beds and two desks in it. Oh great, I am going to have a roommate! Well, hopefully, whoever he is, he is not a punk. If he is, then I am going to need to put him in his place. Mr. Sena and Mr. Tony leave me in the room and I lay down on the bed. I am not sure if it is because I slept on a thin gym mat for the last two months or whatever, but this bed is very comfortable. I end up drifting off to sleep while thinking of Kat and Amanda. I miss them both and hope they are alright. I think when I wake up, I will give Kat a call. She is probably worried sick about me right now.
***Stay Tuned For Part 8***
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
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