A would be patient

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

Today at the gas station, a "bum" approached my elementary school aged son and I.

He was obviously responding to internal stimuli. Talking to himself, etc.

He very brazenly approached me up close and personal to ask for something....likely money.

I saw him coming and tried to roll windows up and lock car doors. He continued approaching.

I said, "Excuse me. No!." And he retreated.

Afterward, I kept scanning for him in the parking lot.

Then I felt bad. He was obviously ill.

I took the time to try to teach my young child about mental illness and safety. I felt bad for the man-after the fact. But safety was my priority concern at the time.

Such a sad situation, for the suffering man. 😓

[Davey Do]

Safety should have been your priority, vintagemother.

We all do the best we can at any given time, and you were acting appropriately protective.

Had you been acting as a mental health professional in a different environment, your actions would have been different.

We can't save the world. We can only do the best we can at any given time.

The continued very best to you, vintagemother!

[Jules A, MSN]

As someone who lived in the inner city years before becoming a psych nurse my experience with homeless people falls on both sides of the equation and I agree you set limits and protected yourself and your child.

My heart breaks for homeless people with mental illness and I am furious with our naive, politically correct delusional society that deemed state mental facilities inhumane however the truth is a psychotic person can be paranoid, impulsive and dangerous so you were correct to insist he step away from your vehicle.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Always put your and your family's safety first, and never feel bad for doing that. NEVER.

If you are ever concerned about someone you see in public and don't feel safe in approaching them, don't hesitate to call the police (it doesn't have to be 911 unless you feel the person is in imminent danger) and ask for the psych evaluation team to come to the area. If they don't have a psych team, they can send regular officers. They'll come to see the person and determine if the person meets criteria for a temporary hold.

It may be psychosis, it may be drug abuse, it may be both (sadly, this is the most common), or it may be that he's neither psychotic nor impaired. The psych eval team can start the process for him to get psych help if he needs it.

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

Thank you for your well wishes, Davey Do!

Jules...I kind of chuckled...I live in the, um, inner city! I see all kinds of stuff daily!

Jules, I also thought about the olden days of state run mental asylums, I actually educated my child on the pit falls of these as well as their potential to be helpful.

Psychiatric care is full of moral dilemmas!

Merriwhen: I totally thought about calling for a psych/wellness check. I've done it before when I observed people being a danger to themselves in the community.

But with this guy, he seemed like he wasn't really a danger to himself. Except for the fact that if he scares someone, he might get hurt by them because they are afraid.

Thank you all for responding.

This whole convo makes me think about how much I enjoyed working in psych as an Lvn. However, I'm now in RN school and not working. I really enjoyed my work.