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For Those With Mental Illness: Portland Isn’t The Place To Be

Rhian Beam
3 min readNov 13, 2019

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If you’re in a mental health crisis, maybe paddle over the river to Washington.

Portland, Oregon. Known across the U.S as a hipster town filled with artists, writers, marketers, and fortune 500 companies.

But did you know we also have shit mental health care?

Did you also know that we have such a high population of folks with Borderline personality Disorder that our DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) Institute has an admittance list that’s currently 8–9 months or more long?

That’s bleak.

I was in crisis myself a few days ago. Having suicidal thoughts ain’t fun kids. And when I went to the hospital, they asked me,

“What can we do for you? What do you want from us?” It was nice of them to ask, however, the only thing I could think of while I was sobbing in a hospital recliner was, “Shouldn’t you know what to do?” I was obviously in mental distress and constantly saying that I was in pain because of it. Yes, they helped me find resources, and I understand they are an ER room and there’s not much they can do for perceived non-physical ailments. But this was an emergency. And during my mental distress, my brain could only think, “I shouldn’t have come here in the…

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Rhian Beam
Rhian Beam

Written by Rhian Beam

Nonbinary Autistic Blogger, Cat Parental Unit. Pronouns: They/Ze. Former Writer for Thi-nk Queerly-RIP. I write about my queer cryptid experience.

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