Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at Crozer Chester Medical Center
...one before they can go eat their breakfast. The breakfast is rather dull they are allowed no sugar or caffeine. The caffeine addicted teen is shaking uncontrollably. He gets up and asks the doctor when he can leave. The doctor ignores him, and jots something down in his chart. It is time for everyone to go to Community Meeting. In Community Meeting the children and teens are allowed to express any issues they have among the community. They must all tell how they feel and give a goal for the day. For some it has been the same goal for weeks to get out of this place. Now it is time for school, the children are given schoolwork that the teacher finds suitable for them. Sometimes they get their work from there schools so they won’t be behind when they go back. The classroom is very quiet you can hear pencils scratching softly against the paper. Occasionally there is a question from the child that doesn’t understand what he is supposed to do. Class goes by pretty smoothly it helps to distract the children from their problems for awhile. They have groups through out the whole day all on different topics. Some works in the groups others just sit there and listen to the other children tell of their problems. After groups it is “Quiet Time”, this is when the children are all sent to there rooms to either take a nap or just sit there and be quiet. During quiet time they are allowed to make one phone call and it is only for five minutes long. You can hear the boy plead for just five more minutes on the phone with his mother. He is sent to his room without even getting to say goodbye. The visiting room in the Adolescent Unit at Crozer Chester Medical Center is a very emotional place. The young children are playing with their parents. The teenagers just sit there staring at the walls. They are angry at their parents and the whole world because they have to be in this place. The parents will sometimes try to strike up a conversation with their teens in a desperate try to reach out. They are only allowed one hour of visiting time, which always seems to g...