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The original was posted on /r/edmonton by /u/UpArrowNotation on 2025-01-26 17:23:04+00:00.
Hello all, this has been kind of floating around in my head for the last few days, and I figured this would be a good place to share. I'm 25F, for context.
When I was 20, I was having a pretty rough time. I had been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder, I had a drug problem, and I was really struggling with PTSD. I was hearing things that weren't there 24/7, had daily flashbacks, and was completely depending on drugs just to go about my day. It was miserable.
In summer of 2019, I decided to take my own life. I was overwhelmed and just did not have the support or the skills I needed to cope with what was going on. I drove to a random residential area with a bunch of meds, with the intention of overdosing. For whatever reason, that I still don't fully understand, I called 911. It felt like I was possessed when I was dialing the number, because I was %100 ready to go.
Anyways after talking with dispatch for a while, a police officer showed up. I remember he was older, probably late 40s, he has really short fingernails from chewing them too often, which I related to. Other than that I don't know who it was. I forgot his name unfortunately. He talked with me for a while, took away the meds I had on me, and explained to me in really clear but calm voice that I was being apprehended under a Form 10, which is what happens when a mentally ill person is taken into custody by the police. He didn't put me in handcuffs, he didn't shove me into the back of his cruiser, he just told me to get out of my car and sit in the back of his police car.
We went to the Royal Alex, and instead of handing me over to hospital security, he chose to spend a couple hours in the waiting room just talking with me. He told me that the doctors were there to help me, but I would only get better if I did what they suggested, he told me that when they give me meds, it's really important to keep taking them even if I start to feel better, and he told me a bunch of other really solid life advice to give a 20 year old schizophrenic. And like, he didn't have to do that. He could have just cuffed me, took me to the hospital, and turned me over to security and left, but he didn't. He took the time to make sure I was going to be okay.
I don't remember a lot about that time in my life, but I remember feeling like an animal. Sub human. The way people treated me made me feel like a burden and a problem that needed to go away. But that police officer made me feel like a human being.
I struggled for a couple more years, but my life today is incredible. I have 4 years clean off drugs, 3 years with no cutting, I have my own apartment, I'm on AISH, and I haven't had to go to the psych ward in over a year. I still think about that police officer a lot. He did more than save my life, he showed me humanity when very few other people were willing to do so.
So yeah. That's my ramble that I wanted to share.
