Why this 18-year-old demands better mental health care for the 'lost year'
CBC
Lola Trembath says she will never forget the first time she walked into the adult psychiatric unit at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton.
It was last March, just eight days after her 18th birthday. She was afraid and alone, desperate for help after serious thoughts of self-harm.
"It was a shock because there are some people there who are almost in their 80s, and I was 18," Trembath said.
However, she was familiar with those unhealthy thoughts and knew she needed hospital care.
For four years, Trembath has battled mental health issues. A suicide attempt left her on life support for seven days when she was 16, and she's been admitted to hospital 13 times.
She had been through it all, or so she thought, until she encountered what she considers the harsh environment of 2 Southeast, at the Chalmers.
"[There were] quite a few times when there were other patients that I understand were all not well, but some were verbally abusive to me, so that was not helpful," Trembath said.
"I find the environment plays a big role in making things worse and not necessarily getting better."
Trembath said she didn't feel safe or supported on the unit. She said she often had to share a room and wasn't comfortable with the fact the showers are in unlocked rooms she described as mostly out of view from the nurses' station.
She recounted one incident she found particularly frightful, when a woman entered her room and refused to leave.
Trembath's parents want the provincial government to change the pediatric age range to include 18-year-olds — a concept supported by New Brunswick's deputy child and youth limit for advocate.
"I understand there has to be an age that things have to switch off and on, but 18, especially when you're dealing with mental illness, I don't think it's fair," said her mother, Natalie Way.
Way calls it the "lost year."
"It's her brain that is sick, and I don't think that's an adequate age for her to be able and have to make decisions on her own and advocate for herself."
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