I never thought I would be the one to need help

[DebJ]

75. Marrah, regarding the SSDI approval

I was facing the same thing with my son many years ago.

I was blessed to be living in a city that had an agency that was able to get him into it right away.
This required that I 'kick him out of the house' so that he could then have access to all of that
agencies remarkable abilities. I also had to cancel the health insurance coverage I had for him for several
months and pay the $1000 a month MINIMUM costs out of pocket (but it was costing me $800 for insurance anyway).
I didn't really have to 'kick him out'; he wasn't homeless for even one day, but I did state that I was
moving in three months and he would not be able to come with me. And I was moving.

I think everything progressed from the foundation they needed that he was (about to be) homeless
and had a disability. The result though was that these wonderful experienced people got him on SSDI so
fast your head would spin. Otherwise, we no doubt would have spent the next several years fighting as
most parents have to do.

He has bipolar disorder, OCD, ADD, etc.

I don't know if there are any agencies there that can assist you.

The program my son was enlisted into is a joint thing managed by a local hospital that specializes in
mental health, with contributions from federal, state, and local sources plus many others.

You might try, if you haven't already, some local crisis hotline, ask them if they have referrals
to other agencies. But some of those crisis lines seem only to offer reflective psychotherapy,
as in, "Oh, so it upsets you that you have no food on your table for tomorrow", which used to
infuriate me, until I realized they weren't any good for anything.

God bless you and wish I could help. So many of us are struggling these days.