Quoted PostHow is this bloke not in a mental institution?Umm … because he has an addiction problem …
I’d say he has issues with both drugs and mental illness.
And who knows which came first?
Media vultures need to FOAD
Get him off the streets before someone gets hurt. Sounds like he’s had plenty of opportunities to get hi scrap sorted. Pretty sad for his kids I guess.
How is this bloke not in a mental institution?
It is extraordinarily hard to get a bed in a mental institution even if you actually want to be admitted to one, in Vic at least, since Kennett sold them off for yuppie housing in the 90s and started crapping on about ‘community based care’, which is basically ‘your family burns every last cent and bit of energy they have running around after you and trying to keep you from killing yourself, and the government calls it a treatment success cos they’ve saved a buck’. Presumable WA runs a similar regime, AFAIK all states do the ‘treatment in the community’ thing these days. Unless you cause significant harm to yourself or someone else, then the best you’re likely do is a quick visit from the local CAT team who’ll talk to you for an hour or two and then vanish out of your life until next time your long-suffering loved ones are desperate enough to waste time calling them. Yes, I am speaking from personal experience here. Yes, I am bitter.
It seems like Cousins DOESN’T want to be in an institution (his family may have different opinions, I suspect), and also seems to have a serious drug habit and apparently still has money/mates enough to keep that habit fed. Unwilling patient, long-running and active ice habit, doesn’t want to be there, no violent incidents so far (that have been publicised, at least)? No mental institution is gong to touch him until something much worse happens. They’ll be pushing for him to go into a private rehab clinic to address the drug thing first, which to be honest is very far from the worst idea I’ve ever heard. But it doesn’t sound like he’s willing to do that either.
oops, double post
get that danger off our roads - accident waiting to happen
Worth posting twice, though.
Spot on HM. If there is no police mandate to keep him institutionalised, and he doesn’t want to be there… There’s not much can be done.
And I think you’re a bit harsh on the CAT team. They do some great work under terrible circumstances.
Worked many times with the CAT team in previous employment. Very difficult job (seriously under resourced) and made more so by lack of beds for people who need to be looked after. The alternatives were the watch house or family. Both options not great.
legit question, was him getting picked up by Richmond or even just being in the AFL system again with all that spotlight. Did it do him more harm than good? Would it of been better just to get the help he needed and forget about his career or did Richmond help him at least try and get his like sorted?
So many what if’s i suppose.
Great point and post HM. Just seems like he does not how to cope anymore. He never has from the looks of it either.
Would it be fair to say if he got arrested and went to prison for x amount of time where he had nor the resources neither the influences to do what he does it would be good for him if he does not want help in the real world.?
legit question, was him getting picked up by Richmond or even just being in the AFL system again with all that spotlight. Did it do him more harm than good? Would it of been better just to get the help he needed and forget about his career or did Richmond help him at least try and get his like sorted?So many what if’s i suppose.
I doubt Richmond made things worse. All reports are that Richmond tried very hard with him and gave him plenty of leeway and support. He wasn’t in a good way.
And it got him out of Perth for a while, which was a good thing.
Cousins is the only person who can help Cousins, and sadly his history shows that of a person unwilling to do so.
Quoted PostHow is this bloke not in a mental institution?It is extraordinarily hard to get a bed in a mental institution even if you actually want to be admitted to one, in Vic at least, since Kennett sold them off for yuppie housing in the 90s and started crapping on about ‘community based care’, which is basically ‘your family burns every last cent and bit of energy they have running around after you and trying to keep you from killing yourself, and the government calls it a treatment success cos they’ve saved a buck’. Presumable WA runs a similar regime, AFAIK all states do the ‘treatment in the community’ thing these days. Unless you cause significant harm to yourself or someone else, then the best you’re likely do is a quick visit from the local CAT team who’ll talk to you for an hour or two and then vanish out of your life until next time your long-suffering loved ones are desperate enough to waste time calling them. Yes, I am speaking from personal experience here. Yes, I am bitter.
It seems like Cousins DOESN’T want to be in an institution (his family may have different opinions, I suspect), and also seems to have a serious drug habit and apparently still has money/mates enough to keep that habit fed. Unwilling patient, long-running and active ice habit, doesn’t want to be there, no violent incidents so far (that have been publicised, at least)? No mental institution is gong to touch him until something much worse happens. They’ll be pushing for him to go into a private rehab clinic to address the drug thing first, which to be honest is very far from the worst idea I’ve ever heard. But it doesn’t sound like he’s willing to do that either.
Yep, a friend had a mental breakdown last year and it was pretty much impossible to get them into a place in WA. We were told they’d be in Joondalup for a month or two and it turned out to only be a for a week due to exactly what they’re saying. They have to prove they’re a harm to themselves or others and if there is no immediate danger they’re sent right back home with some drugs. ■■■■■■■ bullshit system that I’ve had the displeasure of dealing with.
Spot on HM. If there is no police mandate to keep him institutionalised, and he doesn't want to be there... There's not much can be done.And I think you’re a bit harsh on the CAT team. They do some great work under terrible circumstances.
Oh yeah, sorry, I sounded much harsher on the CAT teams there than i meant to be. They do a brutal, draining, awful job I wouldn’t do if you paid me a million, and I bet they get a hell of a lot less than that.
The problem is that they’ve got no tools and nothing to offer beyond some counselling, some company, a recommendation to go to your local emergency ward if things get bad again, and a certain ability to lay a paper trail if you are trying to get someone in for serious treatment. Not their fault. they’ve got nothing to work with, and they are utterly unequipped to provide anything that LASTS.
That’s the killer, and that’s what i always found the hardest. Treatment of this sort of stuff takes a lot of time, sustained attention, and sustained monitoring. But the ■■■■■■■ fetishisation of ‘community-based care’ is basically a way of the govt avoiding any responsibility for providing that, and dumping it on families and friends, or dumping the ill person on the street if they haven’t got anyone willing to neglect jobs, friends, other family members, in order to TRY to help out, with no guarantees of any sort of success because it’s appallingly hard to even get advice about HOW to administer ‘community-based care’. You’re just thrown in the deep end.
I reckon the CAT teams would be a godsend early on in the process - when someone goes off the rails and everyone’s terrified and nobody in the family or whatever knows what’s happening it’d be really useful to be able to call in someone who has a bit of experience, can tell you what resources are out there, and so on. But when you’re trying to manage something long-term, and you’re calling in the CAT team for the 7th, 8th, 20th time because there is simply NOBODY ELSE to turn to, and all they can do is tell you the same stuff they told you first time round? Yeah, not their fault, but it’s hard not to get jaded.
I suspect I was fortunate compared to the people trying to help Cousins out, mind you. They might have more money (for now, that won’t last), but I never had to deal with meth, rarely had to deal with behaviour that was focused outwards rather than inwards, always had family etc who were on the same page re treatment, had a patient who WANTED to be treated, and never had to deal with someone who I wasn’t capable of physically overpowering if it became necessary. Cousins’s family and those of his friends who aren’t busily trying to ■■■■ him up with more drugs are in an awful, awful position. It makes me sick just to think about it.
CAT team were called to see a very close family member of mine and got her into care immediately, she later confirmed she had planned to top herself that arvo.
Quoted Postlegit question, was him getting picked up by Richmond or even just being in the AFL system again with all that spotlight. Did it do him more harm than good? Would it of been better just to get the help he needed and forget about his career or did Richmond help him at least try and get his like sorted?So many what if’s i suppose.
I doubt Richmond made things worse. All reports are that Richmond tried very hard with him and gave him plenty of leeway and support. He wasn’t in a good way.
And it got him out of Perth for a while, which was a good thing.
Cousins is the only person who can help Cousins, and sadly his history shows that of a person unwilling to do so.
I really think you have no understanding of how insidious crystal meth is, and how hard it is to kick. That is a massive statement you made, and one that you cannot possibly have the information to make. This stuff is like no other drug we have ever seen. It is an evil, incredibly difficult to beat (and the bigger the habit, the harder the escape) thing. I have a good mate who wants to get away from the stuff, and has tried his absolute best, many many times, but always relapses. Always. And this poor ■■■■■■■ has been fighting his fight for probably 5+ years now. We all hope he’ll win one day, but there are no guarantees. And it is no different for Cousins. I feel sorry for the bloke. And hope he eventually gets on top of it.
Look Boot, you’re right, I don’t have enough information to say that. I have some though,and It’s still not THAT big of a call.
No, I’ve thankfully never been directly affected by meth, and I’m sorry to hear about your mate. That sounds horrendous.
From what I’ve been told by somebody who was close to Ben when he was in Melbourne, his spiral began well before Meth became an issue, and it’s still not his only issue.
I’ll wear the smack though.
I figured you would Peos. You are not an idiot. And it wasn’t meant to be a smack, more a little indication of how it is. You know I’m pretty relaxed about most drugs, but that one is just nasty. I’d terminate anyone caught making it if I had my way. And I say that as someone who doesn’t believe in capital punishment.
Prison = asylum in goverment’s eyes. Saves money.
Didn’t this guy have a kid a couple of years ago? Or did I imagine that?