scream first, so they won’t;

get angry first, so they won’t;

check to see what you’re allowed to bring with you and plan for what you want to take - I didn’t and didn’t bring ANYTHING good

Let friends know you won’t be able to talk much - most places don’t allow internet/phones

Try not to spend all day in your room. Go to whatever groups/activities you can. Not only does it help to meet the people around you going through similar stuff (you may make a couple friends, even), but some of the info is really helpful, and the activities can be relaxing, therapeutic, and even fun.

You will have quite a bit of boring free time, so document what’s going on. Ask for a pencil and paper if they didn’t let you bring a notebook, and write down thoughts, feelings, doodles, what happened that day, etc. Even little things will be good to look back on later. Trust me.

Whenever you talk to a doctor, be as honest as possible. don’t exaggerate or under-express your experiences, because often they’ll give you meds pretty quickly and change doses a lot, and that can be SUPER dangerous with the wrong info. You want to get on some meds that’ll help when you get out. 

Bring a book or two to read if you like! I wish I’d thought of that beforehand.

If your weight/food is something that you struggle with, be careful with the meals there. It’s really easy to overeat or under-eat. Personally without my ADHD meds plus the boredom between groups, eating became a super exciting thing and I ate way too much because… ADHD…

You’ll likely be able to call/have visits, so definitely do that if you like, but don’t feel forced to see someone or talk to someone if you don’t want to/aren’t comfortable. It’s okay.

Remember that you’re not alone, and everyone there is either in a similar boat to you or is there to help you.

ATTENTION!!

There’s this huge problem spreading across amino, and possibly other social media platforms, and it would be horrible to have this happen to anybody else.

There is this horrible thing going around popular aminos called ‘The Blue Whale Challenge’, which is an app that has a link to it. If you do get a link to it from ANYBODY, I advise to immediately block them, and report them.

This 50 day challenge, also known as ‘The Blue Whale Game’ is reported to have you do various things to harm yourself, or put yourself in immediate danger. These things include cutting yourself in various ways, (cutting into major veins, carving symbols into your body, generally harming yourself, etc.) going on top of buildings and standing close to the edge, attempting to climb a crane, talking to others suffering the same ordeal, etc.

On the 50th day, they tell you to take your life. Jump from a building. Do not do any of this, EVER. There are people that care for you, and there would be people that would miss you horribly. Call the suicide hotline. Get help. Please, stay safe. Do not do this to yourself.

If you download this app, they hack into your electronic device and find all of your personal information, and make it so that you can’t remove or delete the app. They will use whatever they can get against you. Your credit card, tell you that they will hunt down your loved ones and kill them, anything. The person that created this game may have been arrested, but there are people still sending the links for this game.