I am 39 dad of 5yo boy and I am heading for a 3rd inpatient stay at hospital in the past 12mths. I was at my ex-wife's tonight to have dinner with our son, which we do every Wednesday.

We had a bit of an argument and she told me I am a bad parent and that everyone wants me out of my son's life. She also then told me that her support worker, because she has a very mild intellectual disability, has reported me to child services (DOCS we call it in Australia). I questioned her on what grounds, she says that I am an alcoholic (true, but I dont drink when my son is over) and I dont discipline him enough! She thinks I am a bad parent. I have never harmed my child, emotionally or physically, she is the 1 who smacks and yells, I do swear in front of him but never at him. How am I a bad parent for not yelling at my child?

Now she has me worrying about going to hospital as I only get visits from my son and I dont get him to stay over. I also just lost my job, not drinking related was made redundant due to a delivery framework change (basically they want all work to be done in India as it is much much cheaper, BTW I am a software engineer). I worry that going to hospital is going put more pressure on me to find a job in a shorter amount of time. Which is a task I already find daunting.

Am I making the wrong choice to seek support in the hospital, have no support outside of the hospital?