I have been in-patient twice, both times at the same dedicated psych hospital. Both admissions were very helpful to me.

I first went in, in 2007 when I was severely SU and first trying to stop drinking, I basically went straight from rehab to the psych hospital. I was in for7 weeks. It was a fairly typical psych hospital ward, but was a women only unit. Since I was in as a voluntary patient I could sign myself out for up to 2 hrs at a time to go for walks or coffee. We had group therapy everyday and I saw my psychiatrist daily. We added one med, and changed another. The only downsides from my perspective was the boredom -lots of downtime, the lack of privacy, and constantly being monitored.

The second time I went in was last summer, same hospital but different building. I was in one of their newest buildings where they're offering a new model of care. Every patient had their own room,with a private bathroom, and we could lock our doors. There were six rooms on each floor and each floor shared a common living/dinning room space -it was a lot like a university dorm. Again a fair bit of group therapy during the day, plus I was assigned a social worker to work one- on - one with, on relapse prevention. I was in for 4 weeks.

I've really been lucky with the psych care I've received- I've heard not so great things about some of the other hospitals in town. But I go to the dedicated psych hospital which is also a major teaching hospital.

--splitimage