What Kinds of Things Can You Bring to a Residential Treatment Facility for Mental Health?

Question by maxi: What kinds of things can you bring to a residential treatment facility for mental health?
I know you can’t bring things like belts and earrings to acute crisis hospitals. How does a residential hospital differ?

Can I have my cellphone in there? Or, like, a game device like a DS? I’m just curious. I know each hospital has different policies, but what do they usually accept?

Best answer:

Answer by blackjackg
The only way to know for sure is to ask the hospital. It’s a safe bet that you won’t be allowed to bring your cell phone, as they prefer to limit your contact with the outside world (for therapeutic reasons; it’s not just a power trip). A game device might be allowed, but again, the only way to know is to ask.

Generally, they don’t like things that could be used as a weapon against yourself or others. This includes anything sharp, or that could be made sharp (like a glass photo frame – just break it and you’ve got a handy weapon), anything you could theoretically hang yourself with, or any heavy bludgeoning instruments.

The cell phone thing is, as I mentioned, designed to limit your outside contact (for the same reason, you probably won’t be able to bring in blackberries or anything that you can log onto the internet with). Time-spending devices like video games and iPods are usually allowed, but sometimes you will only have limited access to them (they’ll keep them locked in an office and you can use them two or three hours a day).

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