Spencer's Mental Health Recovery

In September of 2022 my 15 year old son was sexually assaulted. He didn't tell us about it until symptoms of PTSD started affecting his school and the school called us in. In April of 2023 he tried to commit suicide by ingesting various household chemicals.

He was in the hospital for 7 days but because of the mental health crisis among teens and the fact that we did not have insurance there was no bed available in an inpatient facility for him. He was in the emergency room at the hospital the entire time.

He is now in an intensive out patient program that entails 12 hours a week of therapy. He also meets a psychiatrist biweekly and an additional therapist once a week.

He has been in regular therapy for several years to work through his body dysphoria and occasional struggles of self harm but the sexually assault began a severe downward spiral. His grades deteriorated quickly and the self harm escalated to an alarming rate. We tried to find a program that would take him but the insurance I had purchased in the marketplace would not take effect until May.

He's is putting in the work and starting to get better, but is still struggling. He's working on his incompletes for school but his Grandmother's recent passing is affecting his progress so we're going to try to find a grief counselor in addition to his program.

Last month we received the bill from the hospital and it was over $100,000. I've been trying to work out a payment plan with them but the least amount they will take is $4000 per month for the next two years. We just aren't able to do that. Because our income threshold is too high, we don't qualify for any subsidies. I'm hoping this go fund me will help us cover some of the medical bills. In additional to the hospital, the psychiatrist is $300/session that we have been paying out of pocket. Money raised would go toward the one hospital bill. Any additional raised would go toward continuing therapy.

If it is at all possible please consider donating. As a parent we want our kids to be happy and healthy and start their lives out in a place of hope. With the cost of treatment it's incredibly hard to make sure this can happen.

Love to you all and let me know if you have any questions. Including a recent photo and a copy of the bill.