Changes to mental health services?

iofox

Hellooo,
I was wondering if anyone uses mental health services, and if so, what changes you would make to those or services or to mental health practice if you had the chance?
Thanks.:)

rubytuesday

I use Mental Health Services and I am very happy with them. My locality is very good. I also used to work as a Mental Health Act Manager.

iofox

Thanks for your reply. I'm studying for a certificate in Mental Health & was wondering what one change people would make to Mental Health services or practice- any ideas from your experiences?:)

jenniewb

I was once told by my (ex) social worker that I was "not sick enough for treatment" as I was not hearing voices and did not have a drug or alcohol problem. This was about a month after being discharged from 24 hour psychiatric care as I wanted to kill myself and my BMI was hovering around 15 as I had anorexia.

I am lucky, I have good contacts and can ask my doctor to refer me to another borough where I can speak to someone but unless I already knew this I'd be without any help.

I have had a few break downs resulting in me asking for help since and am always told the same thing, that I am not chronicly ill enough, this would be despite my history or what I say, its like the first question is "do you smoke/take drugs" and after this they show little interest.

Something needs to change! Mental health support should be available to everyone, not just those that are a potential disturbance to the rest of society.

iofox

Thank you Jennie, that's really helpful. I agree with you completely- surely support is a form of treatment that should be available to everyone & would help to prevent people from becoming 'sick enough for treatment'.
Thinking of you & very grateful for your input.x

Mrs_Ryan

My OH has delusional disorder/depression/psychosis and is under the community mental health team who to be fair have been fantastic in the main with him - his CPN is the team leader/senior nurse and she has been really good.

However with the exception of one or two psychiatrists he has seen who were brilliant, they all seemed very dismissive of his problems and were only interested in getting him off his medication - they didnt seem interested in trying to help him continue his recovery, only in trying to suggest that he wasnt really that ill and didnt need his medication, a fact that was disproved when they suddenly stopped his anti-psychotics and his behaviour became so bizarre that his GP overruled them and re-prescribed a higher dose. I work in Mental Health services myself and they also seemed to suggest that I could cope without their intervention due to this and also the fact I work with patients with challenging behaviour - thing is, I cant cope with him and looking after him is a massive struggle sometimes which they cant seem to acknowledge.

rubytuesday

iofox wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I'm studying for a certificate in Mental Health & was wondering what one change people would make to Mental Health services or practice- any ideas from your experiences?:)

Yes I have actually. I think there should be an end to mixed sex wards in pychiatric hospitals as many people, (women particularily in this case) are very vulnerable to expoitation when they are ill.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

jenniewb wrote: »

I was once told by my (ex) social worker that I was "not sick enough for treatment" as I was not hearing voices and did not have a drug or alcohol problem. This was about a month after being discharged from 24 hour psychiatric care as I wanted to kill myself and my BMI was hovering around 15 as I had anorexia.

I am lucky, I have good contacts and can ask my doctor to refer me to another borough where I can speak to someone but unless I already knew this I'd be without any help.

I have had a few break downs resulting in me asking for help since and am always told the same thing, that I am not chronicly ill enough, this would be despite my history or what I say, its like the first question is "do you smoke/take drugs" and after this they show little interest.

Something needs to change! Mental health support should be available to everyone, not just those that are a potential disturbance to the rest of society.

I pretty much agree with this. The mental health services in my town have drastically got worse since I first became ill 12 years ago.

They only seem to want to help those with alcohol or drug addictions or those people who constantly have the police at the door.

It seems that many people have been passed over to their GP & it is now extremely difficult, if not impossible to get to see a psychiatrist. A lot of patients have also been referred to charities such as MIND, which is obviously putting a major strain on their resources as they only employ a handful of therapists.

I'm certainly very concerned about how mental health services have deteriorated over the years.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

they also seemed to suggest that I could cope without their intervention due to this and also the fact I work with patients with challenging behaviour - thing is, I cant cope with him and looking after him is a massive struggle sometimes which they cant seem to acknowledge.

Once again, I agree. My OH is left to support me single handedly & it is putting a major strain on our relationship. When I see the GP or crisis team, I am constantly telling them this & I also say that they shouldn't be relying on him to care for me. Afterall, he is my partner not my carer & that it is purely down to his patience and understanding that we are still together after 10 years. I'm not sure where I'd be without him to be honest, I certainly couldn't rely on Mental Health Services to be there.