Vancouver mom concerned about state of mental health care
ColumbianJan 28, 2019
But after their six hours together, it was time for Siddharta to return to the brick walls and secured windows of
Fisher, a 68-year-old retired teacher who has been recognized by
Fisher said that while her son is no longer required to be in an inpatient psychiatric facility, he still needs extra help with day-to-day living, such as taking insulin for his diabetes. He will be going to a group home in
"He has this record that makes it difficult for people to be willing to accept him, and there is a big shortage of housing," Fisher said. She still worries about her 40-year-old son, who she said has long dreadlocks and a tendency to talk loudly to himself.
At a press event in
"And as a result of that, we have people who are languishing in our county and city jails who can't get into our state hospitals," Inslee said.
Goal: Closer to home
There is broad support for the idea of making it easier for people to access mental health treatment in their communities near their families, jobs and churches. There's also evidence it aids their recovery.
Sen.
"I've been to Western State, and I would not want my loved one there," Rivers said.
During her decades of negotiating the state's mental health system, Fisher has objected to her son's treatment and held protests outside of the county courthouse and
Fisher questioned if the new attention from the governor and Legislature will address what she said is the system's tendency to isolate and alienate individuals while over-relying on pharmaceuticals.
"If psychosis were not stigmatized in our society, I think a lot of folks could get through it in their communities," she said.
Early diagnosis
Fisher said that she and her family settled in
She said that after experiencing a "very racist incident," his whole world changed. She said that one day in the seventh grade, her son came home from school with a girl's coat. Fisher said her son told her that the coat had been stolen from a girl by other classmates, and he had gotten it back with the intention of returning it to its owner.
But she said that when her son returned the coat, the principal accused him of stealing it. She said her son, who had never been in trouble before, was put in handcuffs and sent to juvenile detention.
Fisher said that afterward, her son became distrustful of authority and started getting in trouble. She said that at age 16, his mental state began to deteriorate. He would become moody, depressed or angry. He began talking to people who weren't there and would pace in his room for hours.
After another brush with the law, Siddharta was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She said the medications he was prescribed put him in pain and caused him to engage in self-harming behaviors.
"He begged me to stay up with him all night because he was worried he would jump out of his second story window," Fisher said. "He gave himself a third-degree burn because he wanted to feel something."
She said that one morning in
'I need to go home'
According to court records, Siddharta was released from
Fisher said that the medications changed her son. She said he would sleep for 16 to 20 hours a day and become depressed over how much time he spent in bed. She said she watched her once-popular son lose all of his friends and sense of belonging. One day, she said he asked her to take him to the airport so he could fly home. Fisher said she took him to the airport where he approached a customer service desk.
"I need to go home," he said.
"I can help you," responded the attendant. "Where is home?"
"That's what I need you to help me with," he said. "I don't know."
Siddharta had bouts with homelessness, and court records indicate he used drugs. He would go on to be committed to
Fisher said that the medications given to her son made him confused and caused him to walk into other people's houses, which led to more run-ins with the police.
Fisher criticized how the state's mental health system relies too much on medication. She pointed to the potential of Open Dialogue, a method of treating acute mental illness that was developed in western Lapland in
Records show that Fisher objected to her son's medications. In 2013, the guardian ad litem appointed for Siddharta filed a restraining order against his mother alleging that she would "threaten and harass any person she feels is causing her son to not have the treatment she demands for him."
Fisher said that dispute was over his medications and also a phone she said should've been installed on the floor her son was housed in at
"Although I couldn't talk to him or touch him or see him, I wasn't out of contact with him," she said.
Back to Western State In
Fisher said that at the time her son was in a program to help previously homeless people with serious mental illness and was living in his own apartment. She said he was receiving
According to court records, Siddharta said an expletive to the waitress and left without paying. He was later arrested and charged with theft.
"They put a vulnerable adult back in jail," Fisher said. "That was wrong."
She said that the three days her son spent in custody were destabilizing. When he was released, she said he was intensely sensitive to noise. He became irritated by a jackhammer at a construction site near his apartment, she said, and yelled at them to shut it off. When they didn't, he hit a worker over the head with a bottle.
Court records show that Siddharta was charged with assault after the incident and was required to undergo a forensic evaluation. The evaluation described Siddharta as tall and thin, wearing orange jail scrubs and dreadlocks well below the shoulder. It stated that he spoke in a "loud volume" and appeared as "agitated and disorganized."
The evaluation reviewed previous records describing his previous diagnoses. It drew a familiar conclusion.
"
'You can't live in here too much'
In a phone interview from
When asked what he was looking forward to when getting out of
"You can't live in here too much," he said.
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