338: A Memoir

338 was the number assigned to me, and to others who were there before and after me. I’ve never met another 338, but maybe this story will finally reach one. I hope they’re okay, whoever they are.

And if you’ve ever been there, no matter your number, I hope you’re okay now too.

This is a memoir that follows me as a teen girl when I was repeatedly sent away to longterm residential treatment facilities during the height of the mental health scandal in the 1990s.