Worse Mental Health Service I Experienced
TW: Very light mention of self harm but no detail of it.
Hello
I got Kaiser about a year ago since I got a more high paying job and no longer qualify for medical. For context, I been in medical all of my life. I suffer severe mental health issues so when I got my new job, I got the most expensive insurance package thinking it will help me the proper mental health treatment. I been in the mental health since I was 8 years old. I’ve been hospitalized for mental health multiple times and been on many mental health medication. Before getting Kaiser, I was doing extremely well and finally felt like I was getting out of my hole after 15 years. I am 26. I was able to finish college and get my dream job. Sadly I had to change insurance and change my whole mental health team but I was excited to have a “good” insurance. After being in the Kaiser Mental Health system, I am extremely shock how bad it is. To the point I question how are they still operating. My first experience with a Kaiser therapist was traumatic. She called the police on me because I had very strong pills that were prescribed to me. Granted I no longer needed them. She told me she was going to call someone to take away the pills. I was like okay, let me get to so I can give it to them. She never told it was the police. When the police get to my house, they were confuse why I was giving them medication that was prescribed to me. I told them just take it but they were so confused. They ended up hand cuffing me, padding me down and searching my home. They didn’t even take the medication. They just flushed it down the toilet and I kept the bottle. That made me become extremely scared of talking about my self harm ideation to any mental health professional. I do have a history but at the point I haven’t done it in about a year. Time passes and I ended up having a mental breakdown for being extremely over worked at my job. I made an appointment with my primary care so he can put me on disability and my therapist recommended IOP. The primary care give me a week and told me to contact my psychiatrist for an extension and to be referred to IOP. I tried to get an appointment but the next available appointment was in 2 months and I was in an active crisis. What followed felt like a wild goose chase of the secretaries sending the psychiatrist messages about needed extra care and he saying I need a referral from my therapist. My therapist is a Kaiser contracted Thera from Rula so she can’t do it. Then I told the secretaries to tell the psychiatrist and he would respond by saying she isn’t referral me because I don’t need it and I am not in a crisis. The end of my week off ended and I need a letter saying I am fit to go back to work or an extension. I had none because the psychiatrist didn’t want to give me anything. I ended up taking to a Kaiser therapist and she was extremely explicit that they can’t legally put me in disability because of work stress. It’s against the law. So I had to say it was just depression so I can get access to state disability and IOP. I did my treatment and it was life changing. I went to every appointment and did all the homework. Every therapist was surprised how well I did. I gave my psychiatrist my FMLA paperwork so he can sign and told him I will need a letter saying I am fit to go to work for HR. I gave him about 2 weeks and he never signed the paper work nor give me the letter. It was the day I was suppose to return to work and security did not let me come into work because I didn’t have the paper signed. I called like crazy to so many people at Kaiser. Everyone acted like they never heard of a job requiring this or they would tell me that he isn’t signing it for a reason. I told everyone even the psychiatrist that if I need more time it’s fine just extend my state disability so I can get paid. I am working to do whatever treatment. I was told by multiple people the psychiatrist can not do this since I already finished my treatment. I was literally in limbo for 2 days and did not get paid for these two days. HR was extremely frustrated and thought I was making it all up. I almost lost my job. After calling so many people, a different psychiatrist was able to give me the letter and my psychiatrist filled my FMLA two days after I was suppose to return to work. I even asked about medical accommodation and my boss and HR approved it but need a letter from my provider. I was told my multiple doctors and therapist that it’s against Kaiser’s policy to give medical accommodations based on mental health and they don’t understand why I even need the letter. I was asking to be able to have fidget toys, have space to meditate and be given clear instructions. Now I do DBT two times a week, individual therapy once a week, psychiatry appointment about once every three days plus just normal doctor appointments and I am working full time. I am at Kaiser so much that I am neglecting other aspects of my life and starting to feel burn out again. I contact my provider to find an alternative treatment but was told I am expected to do all my treatment if not I just do not want to get better. I have never in my life been treated this badly my a mental health system. I am at a point where I do not know what to do. Everyone I talk to in my life, think it’s so outlandish that they don’t believe me or think I am just lazy and do not want to get better. I even filed a complaint at Kaiser. The person I called to help me file the complaint did not understand why I even wanted to file one in the first place. I had to beg so much for him to even file it. I finally got a response from the complaint and it literally said nothing. Just stated what happened and that I should call record for all FMLA concerns, when I literally did that and they have record of it. I keep calling the case manager to get more information but she never answers. I even leave voice messages and nothing. I feel like I am going crazy. I was given life saving treatment just so Kaiser can re traumatize me. That’s the most fucked up thing I have ever experienced.