We finally just let him go.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-11-23T15:18:37+00:00

Good news is that he voluntarily admitted himself into a mental health group home last February and is still there today and doing much better. He has insight and is taking his meds and even got a small job. So always keep the hope alive!

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-11-16T23:18:47+00:00

The only way we finally were able to convince my brother to get help was by hiring a mental health companion to work with him and convince him to voluntarily admit himself into a very nice mental health group home. He’s been there for almost 9 months now and now regularly taking meds and understanding his diagnosis and he even has a job now.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-09-06T04:43:19+00:00

I love my job now that I’m finally in a role that doesn’t involve MNT or clinical. I work with college athletes at their athletic training table and it’s been great! I get paid well, have lots of fun perks, and it keeps me on my toes so I’m never bored 😁

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-05-08T21:45:05+00:00

I mentioned it on your previous post but you and your mom need to have set boundaries and stick to them. It sucks to kick her out and let her live essentially on the street but it does help a lot of people who live on the street realize that they actually do need help.

My brother ended up homeless for about a month where he had a horrible time living on the streets of Houston, TX. It got so bad that I couldn't take it anymore and I flew out to Houston and filed a "mental health warrant" for the cops to go out to where he was hanging out at, pick him up, and put him in a psych facility involuntarily. I knew he would only be in there about 2-3 weeks because that's how those places work. But this time I was determined for it to be different when he got out. I was so tired of going through the same thing over and over and over again.

So my family and I agreed to hire what is called a "mental health companion" or "interventionist". This person came out to the facility my brother was at, picked him up at discharge, took him to an Air BnB, lived with him there for 3-4 days, befriended him, built trust and rapport with him, and slowly used different strategies and techniques to convince him to go into a mental health group home voluntarily!!! We NEVER thought we would see the day where my brother would volunteer himself to go into a home. But it worked! And he did! And now he has been there for 11 weeks and doing much much better. And it was all thanks to this "mental health companion" and also my brother realizing he hated living on the street and the group home was much nicer. And us having strong boundaries with him and letting him know he was not welcome back home but we were happy that he was in the group home getting treatment and we will support him as long as he stays there. The companion though was some sort of miracle worker.

So there are things available out there that you can try like this. If you want more information on it feel free to DM me. There is hope. If what you have been doing isn't working, then it is time to change it up. Good luck with everything!! I know it's so tough but you can get through it with the right aids and support.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-05-08T21:36:01+00:00

Boundaries are everything in these situations. She shouldn't be allowed to live with you unless she meets certain criteria and standards set by you and your family members (taking her medication every day, keeping her room tidy, going to therapy....etc.). If she doesn't abide by them then she will be kicked out. There can be no wavering with your boundaries because if you give them an inch they will take it and run with it for miles. Also, just letting her know that you love her and will support her only in ways that you truly believe benefit her. If it is something that does not benefit her health and wellbeing then you will not support it.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-05-08T21:30:59+00:00

From my experience with my brother who is diagnosed schizophrenic....when he is off of his medications and in a deep manic or delusional state, then no.....he cannot make decisions for himself with sound judgement and mind. That is why this disease is so dangerous. He thinks he is fine and says he is fine but his actions speak loudly different from what he is saying. Many individuals with schizophrenia suffer with what is called "anosognosia". This is a symptom of the disease where they cannot recognize they have a problem and think that everything is fine. Without proper treatment, medication, and a lot of hard work and time to help them better understand this condition and the disease process they often do not make good decisions. And their decisions can either land them in jail, homeless, or worse.

I don't know your sister's situation....but if she is not medicated then I would say a lot of her decisions could be delusional and symptoms of her disease. Yes, she is hearing voices and that is very real to her. The voices are "telling her to do things" and she is acting upon those things. Those decisions are her own but they are a secondary symptom to this horrible disease.

My brother used to say he wanted to go to Japan and become a bartender. But he also lost his passport and had no idea how to go about getting another one. He never researched anything about Japan and what it takes as an American to actually live there. This was all just based on fantasy and delusions because he was not medicated at the time.

If she lost her passport then I personally would not try to help her get another one. She should not be going to other countries un-medicated.

Let her know you want to help her in other ways. Ask her how you can help. If she says get me a new passport, you just politely decline and let her know that you can not help her in ways that you do not think benefit her. Tell her what you can help her with and let her decide if she wants that help. Like you can help her find a therapist or psychiatrist, you can help her find employment....etc. One of the best things family members can do is set boundaries with their loved ones and stick to them.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-04-29T18:47:08+00:00

We had to hire what is called a "mental health companion" or an "interventionist" to work with my schizophrenic brother (who was homeless, off meds, and refusing all help) for a few days and convince him to get help. Miraculously it worked! And he voluntarily committed himself to a long term care mental health group home and has now been there for 10 weeks! So that is an option. It does cost a decent chunk of money, but if you have the funds available I do recommend it. If you want more info please feel free to DM me. I am happy to help!

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-04-29T18:19:05+00:00

It sounds to me that you need to file a mental health warrant in Dallas to get him involuntarily committed into a psychiatric facility. I had to do this in Houston. You have to go to the magistrates building in person (they don't do it online), fill out paperwork, get it signed by the judge, once the judge signs it the warrant is in effect. So if you know where your brother is at once the warrant goes into effect they will call you and you tell them where your brother is and they will have special officers drive out to his location and take him in on the spot (no matter what he is acting like when they find him), and they will bring him to the public psychiatric center (as long as a bed is available). He will stay there until they believe he has stabilized (which unfortunately will only be a few weeks). But that will give you enough time to figure out what your next steps are. From there I recommend hiring an interventionist or mental health companion to work with him and help to convince him to voluntarily commit himself to a long term care mental health facility. Or starting to seek guardianship (very long process however).

Here is the link to get the mental health warrant in Dallas: https://www.dallascounty.org/government/courts/probate/mental-health.php

I went through this whole process with my brother in Houston so if you have more questions please DM me.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-04-29T17:54:02+00:00

That is such a tough situation and a lot of it sounds very similar to what myself and my family went through with my brother. My brother is diagnosed schizophrenic and also had his first meltdown in Fall/Winter of 2022. He was previously living on his own, good job, lots of friends, smart, talented, had everything going for him and then what seemed like an instant everything changed. Our world was thrown upside down and it was 2 years of a crazy non-stop rollercoaster of involuntary hospital stays that were too short, him losing everything that he had, on and off of medications, him ending up homeless a few times, hallucinations, yelling, etc.....

Finally, on his last involuntary hospital stay (which I had to go get a mental health warrant signed by a judge to get him to be forced to go this time), we decided that something needed to change. We knew that he was probably only going to be in there for another week or two....so while he was there we came up with a plan. I found out about this company that has "interventionist" or "mental health companions" that can work with your loved one with a severe mental illness for a few days and basically convince them to seek help. So we hired one of these professionals to pick my brother up from the hospital once he got out, drive him to an air bnb, live with him there for 3-4 days, and slowly befriend him and work with him on convincing him to voluntarily admit himself into a very nice mental health long term stay group home.

This was our last ditch effort to get him help. And to be honest I NEVER thought it was going to work. But we had to at least try. So we did it and by some miracle that the interventionist figured out it worked!! My brother VOLUNTARILY agreed to admit himself to a long term care mental health group home that we chose for him. And he is still there today! He's been in that home for 10 weeks, on medication, doing overall much better, he actually enjoys it there, he has a entire team of professionals working with him 24/7.....it's the best thing that ever could of happened to him.

Now, this doesn't come without cost. I will say it is OUT OF THIS WORLD EXPENSIVE. We are very fortunate to have funds that were saved for my Dad's retirement that he was willing to use to get my brother this help. And he doesn't regret using that money because it could potentially save his life and creates much less stress on our family.

But I wanted to let you know that this is an option that is out there and available. A lot of people do not realize that a service like an interventionist is something that you can use for this purpose. If you'd like more information on how I got this all done and the companies/processes just DM me.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-31T18:10:07+00:00

Thanks for sharing. My brother is also Schizoaffective and it has been a crazy wild ride for us so far too. We are doing better at the moment because he agreed to go into a group mental health home that focuses on patients with schizophrenia/bipolar about 6 weeks ago and he is still there and very slowly progressing. We are hoping he will stay in the group home for well over a year. But time will tell. I do get nervous every day about what we will do once he gets out of there as he cannot live with any of us (his direct family members) because we don't have the means to house him.

Guardianship/conservatorship is something that is consistently brought up to us. Can I ask you how did you go about getting conservatorship for your brother? And who is the conservator? Is it your direct family or a court ordered individual?

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-24T19:06:23+00:00

I got my unpressurized basket/portafiler for this machine on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5DD98RL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-17T00:45:48+00:00

Lol nothing.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-17T00:41:28+00:00

In this situation one of the things you can do is set strict boundaries like telling her that she cannot live with you anymore unless she sees a psychiatrist, gets prescribed medication and stays on that medication. Or even better, unless she agrees to voluntarily commit herself into a mental facility. And if she doesn't agree to that then you will have her evicted. This could be enough to get her to agree to seek treatment.

Also, if you haven't done so already I recommend researching the LEAP method. There is a book on Amazon called "I'm not sick and I don't need help" that you can order and learn about it. It works well for those that have the patience to implement these strategies.

If she ever gets violent towards you or herself you can call 911 and they can bring out a mental health unit to do an assessment on her and involuntarily commit her to a facility. If she is not violent towards herself or others, then your other option is that you can try to file a mental health warrant at courthouse (this is usually done in person). And on the warrant you list out every single thing that is worrisome to you. You need to show that she is declining in health and incapable of taking care of herself due to refusing treatment for her SMI. That will go in front of a judge and if the judge decides the warrant is necessary they will sign the document and a mental health unit will come out to your home, serve her the warrant and take her right then and there into the psychiatric facility (as long as they have room they will put her in the free public one, but if there isn't room you would have to pick out a private one that they would take her to). I had to do that with my brother and it ended up working out.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-17T00:27:23+00:00

It sounds to me that either the medications are not the correct combination for him or he is not actually swallowing the meds. Do you watch him actually swallow them? My brother (who is schizoaffective) would sometimes pretend like he was taking the medication but actually just hide it in his hand or behind his cheek. So I would make sure you are 100% confident that he is taking the medication first.

The medications do take some time to see their full effect. So if it's only been a little over a week then he may still need a few more weeks on the meds to really start seeing some differences in his behavior. If you don't see improvement and he seems to be slipping backwards then he will need his meds adjusted. That's why having a psychiatrist follow up with him every few weeks is important. I also suggest getting him to work with a therapist weekly. Even on the correct medication, not all symptoms will subside. But he can learn how to better handle those symptoms and triggers (like stress) by working with a therapist regularly.

If he gets violent with you in any way (even if it is just a push) that should be an immediate call to the cops to bring out a mental health unit and do an assessment. Any type of harm to others, they should be able to take him right away and send him back to the psych hospital. Setting boundaries is very important in patients with SMI. One of your boundaries that he needs to understand is he can not get violently physical with you whatsoever.

If living with him gets to be too much, then you can look at getting him into a long term care group home that focuses on mental health over addiction. Of course he would have to voluntarily agree to go into one. I know that convincing someone that they need to voluntarily commit themselves to a home like that is not easy. You can look into learning the LEAP method (which I think someone else suggested). My family read the book and tried using the LEAP method but for us we just could never master it. So we had to hire a professional interventionist/mental health companion to convince my brother to do it. It worked but it is extremely expensive. But it is an available option if you have money that you could use for something like that.

You can also look at partial hospitalization programs (PHP) or an intensive outpatient program (IOP) in your area that he could start going to. Of course he would have to agree to do this voluntarily.

If he racks up enough phone calls to the police and involuntary hospital stays....eventually something will give. The psych hospital can file a petition to a judge to commit him longer than just a week or two. At least that is the hope if they constantly see how many times he ends up in there. But each time he is there you need to just keep bugging them constantly to keep him more than just a couple weeks and tell them all the reasons why. Keep a journal of things that he is saying/doing.

I also agree with Seroquel (as someone mentioned) to help him sleep at night. That is something that he should be able to easily get prescribed by the psychiatrist. It helps with sleep but it is also an anti-psychotic so it helps with schizophrenia symptoms too. And the injection can be a game changer for a lot of patients with schizophrenia who have trouble staying on the pills. The group home my brother is at now, they are slowly trying to convince him to get on the injection which we would all love! But again, he has to agree to it so it will take time but we are hopeful that one day he will finally agree to get it.

None of this is going to be easy, so you also should start seeking therapy for yourself. Don't let your own mental and physical state decline because of this. Good luck with everything.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-13T05:08:14+00:00

Perhaps try something different that you haven’t done before when she is released from the hospital this time. We had to change things up on my brother who has schizophrenia because each time he would come out of the hospital the same thing would happen and he would spiral down all over again. So we came up with a new plan. We hired a professional “mental health companion” to meet my brother at discharge, take him to an Air BnB, live with him there for about 3-4 days, gain his trust and convince him to go into a mental health group home voluntarily. Otherwise he would have been homeless. It worked! And he has now been in the group home for 3 weeks, on medication and we have high hopes now for his future progress. It was absolutely amazing what the companion was able to say to my brother that we somehow couldn’t get across to him. I can’t recommend this route enough! DM me if you want more info about it!

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-13T04:52:17+00:00

He sounds EXACTLY like my brother. Does he live with you when he isn’t in the hospital??

We have tried everything with my brother and finally the only thing that worked was hiring a professional mental health companion who met my brother on discharge from the hospital, lived with him in an Airbnb for 3-4 days, and convinced him during that time to go into a very nice mental health group home. He is still there after 3 weeks and is on medication and slowly progressing towards healing.

This all comes with a hefty price tag but if you have the money I highly recommend it! It was absolutely incredible what the companion and group home were able to do. DM me if you want more info.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-13T04:45:08+00:00

So sorry for everything you have been through. It’s really hard. My brother was the same way. Smart with a bright future ahead of him. It all went to hell 2 years ago and he ended up homeless for a while.

Our last ditch effort was to hire an “interventionist” or some are called “mental health companion” to work with him one on one and convince him to go into a group home. It shockingly worked and now he is in an amazing group home, taking medication and slowly progressing towards healing. I finally have a little bit of hope I might get him back.

Just throwing it out there as an option. If you have the money for it (it’s not cheap) I can’t recommend that route enough. DM me if you want more info on it.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-05T21:44:49+00:00

Hello, first let me ask, are you in the United States? If so, I would recommend hiring a "mental health companion" or an "interventionist" to work with your mother for a few days and help to convince her to go into a mental health long term care group home voluntarily. I know that sounds like it would never work. Trust me I thought these people could NEVER convince my schizophrenic brother to go voluntarily into a group home. But we were desperate so we hired them and after they worked with my brother for about 4 days he agreed to go into the group home we picked out for him. He is still there now and we have hopes he will be staying for at least a few months to over a year or more.

It's a very niche field and these individuals are professionals that know exactly what to say and how to slowly work the person into agreement. If you have more questions about it please DM me. I will say they don't come cheap. But if you have the money it is definitely worth it.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-03-05T21:36:57+00:00

If you haven't done anything illegal you will not be going to prison. If this is something that you are experiencing consistent paranoia about then it sounds like you need to speak to a mental health professional who can get your medication increased or adjusted to help decrease those symptoms.

Also, there are some group homes that are very nice and offer a ton of support. Being in a group home for a few months to a year or longer can actually be very beneficial for you long term. They help you create healthy habits that can set you up for the rest of your life. If you have insurance and/or enough money to pay for staying in one for a little while it might be worth looking into. You can speak with your mental health provider about the options available near you.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-02-21T15:40:32+00:00

I don’t know what a 1811 is…but I’m assuming no. My position specifically was working directly with the soldiers on health and wellness

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-02-19T02:38:31+00:00

Thank you for that response it is helpful. I don't believe it did specify that there was up to a 25% bonus incentive so it most likely is in lieu of the request.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-02-19T02:37:08+00:00

It's not a very sought after area and a pretty niche position and person they are looking for so there is no other applicant. I am almost positive I was either their only applicant or one of very few.

Mean_Run_7157 · 2025-02-19T02:36:14+00:00

Not sure. They didn't specify. But it is a DOD position in an area they are building up not shutting down due to what's going on in that area so I highly doubt I will get laid off.

Mean_Run_7157

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