"Mistreatment From Staff"

At the age of 14 I was admitted to Ward 5a in PCH in 2022. This experience left me with un-erasable trauma and a mistrust in services.

There were occasionally good experiences on the ward but the bad ones overtake any positivity by far.

At the young age of 14 I experienced:

- Security called on me because I was not going to bed. I voiced to staff I did not feel safe to go to bed. This same night, due to me saying I wasn't feeling safe, my bed sheets and all belongings in my room were taken from me with non discussion with me from staff.

- Locked in a hallway and my room (affectionally known as 'airlock' in Pod 1- high security pod). I was locked in there with a patient who smeared food on the walls. I wanted to get the attention of staff to communicate something and it seems they did not like this so they put black paper up on the window. This took away my means of communication other than knocking on the door, which I seem to remember they would not answer to in this incident time.

- Getting put in airlock (my room and a hallway only) when I did an unwanted behaviour. Another patient did this behaviour within a few days of me doing so and I recall staff just laughed with them and they did not get into trouble.

- Being denied access to school/ education many times while in Pod 1, something people in Pod 2 get every week day as memory serves.

- I felt Pod 1 and security being called were used as threats.

- Patient clothing was mixed up.

- A nurse getting frustrated at me and refusing to talk to me when I said I did not feel comfortable around them/with them as my nurse as they is a different gender. They made a smart comment when I asked them for something, something along the lines of 'you don't talk to men, remember?'.

- The same nurse as above was there when I was admitted. They were nice at this point in time and let me keep my tracksuit pants which has a sewn in string. They let me keep these. Later on in my admission seemingly changed their mind and said I can not have these. Without discussion they started to cut the string off my pants before I managed to get them to stop using the scissors. In front of me and other staff they denied ever allowing me to have this item of clothing. They made me, a vulnerable person, look like a liar when it fact I feel it was them who lied.

These traumatic memories are only the ones I remember. I have blocked out most of my admission. I feel this shows the level of trauma I endured.

Based on my experience I would not wish this place, a place of supposed safety and help, on my worst enemy.

In my opinion, someone should investigate this place before it does too much damage to too many more kids.

Thank you for reading