This morning, I received a phone call from staff. David is in crisis.
It is more than that. Yesterday two young men got into a fight or something, and David decided to get involved. As a result he lost all privileges. Has to spend 20 minutes of every half hour with staff.
They usually start their Saturday’s with basketball, which is David’s favorite activity. As a result of the restriction, that was not available. In response to finding this out, David got very upset and said he was going to kill himself.
In response, he now spends all of his time with staff. He is under 24 hour observation. He is prone to being searched at any time so that staff can make sure that he doesn’t have anything that can use to hurt himself. At night when he sleeps, he sleeps in the same area where the staff work while the residents are sleeping.
I thanked staff for letting me know. While it is my belief that David was just angry, I am satisfied with how the facility is handling the threat. They are taking it as a very real threat. As they should. In responding to the threat the way that they are, David is being shown that he can’t do certain things. He is being held accountable for his behavior.
Before we ended the call, I asked about David’s meds. I said, the doctor indicated on our call that he was going to make a change or two to the medication that David is taking. Staff said they would make a note in his file, and call me to let me know if they had started the changes or not.
David has behaviors. Negative behaviors. But the change in meds can bring those out more than one would expect from the average child.
So as I close this update about our dear son, I ask that you say a prayer for him, if you are of the persuasion to do so, else, positive thoughts work too.
Thank you
Carl