Hi kylieg
Thanks for sharing your experiences on our forum. From what you describe your son is having a pretty rough time so it is understandable that you would be wondering about what your options are to support him.
The first thing to check with you is that your son has a GP or health professional looking after his care. This is a really important part of recovery; having good supports who know your son and who you son can trust and confide in. It is also important that there is open communication between your son, his treating health professional and you.
One conversation that you can have with his health professional is the idea of hospitalisation. It can be helpful to consider what you hope to gain from a hospital stay when preparing for this conversation. Is this what he needs at the moment? Usually stays in hospital are brief and can be beneficial when a person changes medications, is at risk of suicide or when there are some questions around the diagnosis and best form of treatment. The type and length of treatment provided in hospital will also vary depending upon whether you are accessing the public or private health system.
To access hospital services in the public health system your son would need to be referred to your local mental health service. To access services in the private sector your son would usually need to be linked in with a private psychiatrist. Your treating GP should be able to provide you with the information and referrals required for either of these options.
What will be best for your son over the coming days and weeks is of course your priority at the moment and we would encourage you to voice your concerns with his health professional, talk through his options, and then together work on a plan for moving forward. And here we would really like to highlight ‘together’. This should be an open process so that your son feels empowered and supported to do the things that are working for him.
Recovery can take time, and often involves ups and downs, so it is important that your son feels supported and can access additional support when and if he needs it.
This experience can also be very hard for you as a parent. Our forums have a lot of discussion about supporting family members so you might like to have a read of some other threads to hear what other people are doing in similar situations.
Take care.
