Mental health resources for young person at risk in Oslo, Norway
October 26, 2018 6:15 AM Subscribe
My early 20s relative in Oslo is very depressed. She's sleeping a lot and generally acting different, crying,. A terribly difficult event is coming up for her next month and I'm concerned it will snowball into a crisis. I'm pretty much her whole source of support. How can I help find a therapist or mental health care for her?
She was caught driving with drugs in her system last June and sentenced to 22 days in prison, which she will probably be serving in November. Luckily it looks like she can do it under house arrest with an ankle monitor (fotlenke), which will be much better than going to prison (even in Norway).
She's very sorry and not trying to get out of the sentence. But she needs help to deal with the emotional and logistical dificulties.
The program has some dificult requirements such as a 5 minute window of time that she has to leave her house in the morning, and having to be available on the cell phone 24 hours a day. But this is someone with organizational dificulties who is always late and forgetting to plug their cell phone in. We are both worried that she will sleep through her alarm or miss a bus. It's unclear at what point they put you in regular prison for messing up this type of thing.
She works a very physically demanding full time construction job with a 45 minute bus commute each way, and it's challenging to stay on track even when she's not freaking out that missing a bus or losing her phone is going to land her in prison. I've suspected for a while that she has ADD, and that's certanally something she wants to talk to a therapist about.
She isn't trying to get out of the sentence and she's very sorry.
I'm also worried because she's been using marijuana and alcohol daily and she is going to come off them probably fairly suddenly. They will be coming to test her urine for drugs at random times durring the sentence. I'm concerned she will have a bad reaction to quitting using suddenly, or will get withdrawl symptoms and start drinking.
She went into their office to do paperwork and be interviewed about her drug use. The corrections officer who interviewed her gave her a pearl-clutching lexture about the evils of marijuana and tried to get her to go to treatment. My relative declined and got into an arguement with the worker about legalization.
This is a distant relative, very close friend. We have met in person. I'm much older and sort ot play the role of the helpful aunt. She is not close with her family and gets no support from them. I'm pretty much her support system. We talk every evening on video chat and text throughout the day. So this is a real person, and not an internet fake.
Ideally I'd suggest some things for her to google and we would talk about it. But this is not an ideal situation. Based on events in the past, she will wait until the last minute and then freak out and desperately need help. So I've told her I'm going to get some information and do some research, and we can discuss it.
So where in Oslo can she get non-preachy help? Or even a sympathetic GP. She's so scared that anywhere she goes she can't talk about drug use or she'll get in more trouble. Pretty much anything put out by the govt is not going to go over well with her. Looking for both crisis/immediate help and longer term options.
I'm trying to find information about the drug treatment options offered by the govt. I've heard bad things about them anecdotally but I can't find anywhere there's descriptions of how they work.
Does anyone have experience/life pro tip type information about the fotlenke program in Norway, especially Oslo? Please feel free to PM me.
She's very sorry for this and is trying to get better. I don't think she's in immediate danger, she's said she's not suicidal. She did threaten suicide before though. She said she would let me know if things started going seriously downhill. I'm hoping that I can work with her and prevent this from becoming a crisis.
Links in Norwegian or English about any of these subjects totally appreciated.
She's a Norwegian citizen, I'm in the US. Her family wants to pray the evil drugs away and won't be any help.
She was caught driving with drugs in her system last June and sentenced to 22 days in prison, which she will probably be serving in November. Luckily it looks like she can do it under house arrest with an ankle monitor (fotlenke), which will be much better than going to prison (even in Norway).
She's very sorry and not trying to get out of the sentence. But she needs help to deal with the emotional and logistical dificulties.
The program has some dificult requirements such as a 5 minute window of time that she has to leave her house in the morning, and having to be available on the cell phone 24 hours a day. But this is someone with organizational dificulties who is always late and forgetting to plug their cell phone in. We are both worried that she will sleep through her alarm or miss a bus. It's unclear at what point they put you in regular prison for messing up this type of thing.
She works a very physically demanding full time construction job with a 45 minute bus commute each way, and it's challenging to stay on track even when she's not freaking out that missing a bus or losing her phone is going to land her in prison. I've suspected for a while that she has ADD, and that's certanally something she wants to talk to a therapist about.
She isn't trying to get out of the sentence and she's very sorry.
I'm also worried because she's been using marijuana and alcohol daily and she is going to come off them probably fairly suddenly. They will be coming to test her urine for drugs at random times durring the sentence. I'm concerned she will have a bad reaction to quitting using suddenly, or will get withdrawl symptoms and start drinking.
She went into their office to do paperwork and be interviewed about her drug use. The corrections officer who interviewed her gave her a pearl-clutching lexture about the evils of marijuana and tried to get her to go to treatment. My relative declined and got into an arguement with the worker about legalization.
This is a distant relative, very close friend. We have met in person. I'm much older and sort ot play the role of the helpful aunt. She is not close with her family and gets no support from them. I'm pretty much her support system. We talk every evening on video chat and text throughout the day. So this is a real person, and not an internet fake.
Ideally I'd suggest some things for her to google and we would talk about it. But this is not an ideal situation. Based on events in the past, she will wait until the last minute and then freak out and desperately need help. So I've told her I'm going to get some information and do some research, and we can discuss it.
So where in Oslo can she get non-preachy help? Or even a sympathetic GP. She's so scared that anywhere she goes she can't talk about drug use or she'll get in more trouble. Pretty much anything put out by the govt is not going to go over well with her. Looking for both crisis/immediate help and longer term options.
I'm trying to find information about the drug treatment options offered by the govt. I've heard bad things about them anecdotally but I can't find anywhere there's descriptions of how they work.
Does anyone have experience/life pro tip type information about the fotlenke program in Norway, especially Oslo? Please feel free to PM me.
She's very sorry for this and is trying to get better. I don't think she's in immediate danger, she's said she's not suicidal. She did threaten suicide before though. She said she would let me know if things started going seriously downhill. I'm hoping that I can work with her and prevent this from becoming a crisis.
Links in Norwegian or English about any of these subjects totally appreciated.
She's a Norwegian citizen, I'm in the US. Her family wants to pray the evil drugs away and won't be any help.
Norway
Country Drug Report 2018. Includes section on criminal justice. Also, it notes that services are integrated with individuals from the community, any referral will likey end up in the same place regardless if it comes from her GP or the courts.
I can't give you specific advice for Oslo. but I can give you specific advice for people who have a substance use disorder.
She is facing consequences for substance use. She is going to jail, she is having difficulty with daily life activities, she is overwhelmed and feeling incredibly judged. This isn't an abormal profile for this problem. (Often times there is co-occuring mental illness, but it's hard to diagnose mental illness when one uses substances everyday). Any substance abuse treatment facility will do a full mental health evaluation as well.
She has been offered help already. She has been offered treatment. Her sentance and intake processes are about referrals and she has refused.
This is sort of true in the US, though services vary dramatically based on local, race and judge. But there are options available through the court system (and based on your post she's been offered similar in Norway). These services are very black and White about drug use part of this is law (a substance is either legal or not mostly), some of this is general profiles of individuals who use substances who want to make excuses for why even though their use causes them personal problems they want to continue to use.
She got the Norway equivalent of a DUI. She cannot use drugs responsibly, even weed. It doesn't matter if it should be legal or not. Right now it isn't . Right now she's scared about following a routine. Right now she needs help, and she was offered treatment and said no. The fastest thing to do is to call the people who did intake and change her mind and take the referrals. Substance use is incredibly common, and concidered a medical condition. But she must chose to seek treatment .
She won't get into more trouble, she is already in trouble. They already know she has a substance use disorder. They know she refused treatment. They will soon know she is continuing to use. Her current course of (in)action is the worst course.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:58 PM on October 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Country Drug Report 2018. Includes section on criminal justice. Also, it notes that services are integrated with individuals from the community, any referral will likey end up in the same place regardless if it comes from her GP or the courts.
I can't give you specific advice for Oslo. but I can give you specific advice for people who have a substance use disorder.
She is facing consequences for substance use. She is going to jail, she is having difficulty with daily life activities, she is overwhelmed and feeling incredibly judged. This isn't an abormal profile for this problem. (Often times there is co-occuring mental illness, but it's hard to diagnose mental illness when one uses substances everyday). Any substance abuse treatment facility will do a full mental health evaluation as well.
She has been offered help already. She has been offered treatment. Her sentance and intake processes are about referrals and she has refused.
This is sort of true in the US, though services vary dramatically based on local, race and judge. But there are options available through the court system (and based on your post she's been offered similar in Norway). These services are very black and White about drug use part of this is law (a substance is either legal or not mostly), some of this is general profiles of individuals who use substances who want to make excuses for why even though their use causes them personal problems they want to continue to use.
She got the Norway equivalent of a DUI. She cannot use drugs responsibly, even weed. It doesn't matter if it should be legal or not. Right now it isn't . Right now she's scared about following a routine. Right now she needs help, and she was offered treatment and said no. The fastest thing to do is to call the people who did intake and change her mind and take the referrals. Substance use is incredibly common, and concidered a medical condition. But she must chose to seek treatment .
She won't get into more trouble, she is already in trouble. They already know she has a substance use disorder. They know she refused treatment. They will soon know she is continuing to use. Her current course of (in)action is the worst course.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:58 PM on October 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Unfortunately she already feels alienated and shamed by the officials and said she would rather kill herself then call them up and ask for help. So that's why I'm looking for other options.
It's also why I'm trying to find out as much about the process as I can because I want to know how much of what she's telling me is the truth
posted by Melsky at 3:51 AM on October 27, 2018
It's also why I'm trying to find out as much about the process as I can because I want to know how much of what she's telling me is the truth
posted by Melsky at 3:51 AM on October 27, 2018
You may be able to call:
Kirkens SOS i Oslo
Oslo
Contact by: - Phone - E-mail:
Hotline: 815 33 300
Website: kirkens-sos.no
On behalf of your relative for resources and info. This is a suicide crisis line. But they'll know local resources, be able to plan and identify resources. They may also know if there are legal ways to check on the well being of your family member.
I cannot vouch for the quality of this crisis line.
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:39 AM on October 27, 2018
Kirkens SOS i Oslo
Oslo
Contact by: - Phone - E-mail:
Hotline: 815 33 300
Website: kirkens-sos.no
On behalf of your relative for resources and info. This is a suicide crisis line. But they'll know local resources, be able to plan and identify resources. They may also know if there are legal ways to check on the well being of your family member.
I cannot vouch for the quality of this crisis line.
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:39 AM on October 27, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
She sounds like she's suffering from something more serious than ADD. Perhaps early symptoms of clinical depression, bipolar or PTSD. Really you won't know until she gets evaluated. Try to get her in to see someone asap. You mentioned her family wants to pray it away. If she won't see anyone subsidized by the gov't maybe funds can be raised by members of their religious institution so that she can get a private evaluation? Members of churches and such do that all the time.
posted by fantasticness at 6:43 PM on October 26, 2018