Share review of St Mary's Hospital

St Mary's Hospital 2023-01-12 Person 1 5 0

I rarely had positive experience with being under CMHT. There is a massive problem with mental health staff being able to take accurate session notes. This leads to a lot of confusion and really does not help the patient. Also, ticking boxes and filling out generic forms in order to describe how I feel and my mental health needs is pointless. I walked into my local community centre and they understood my needs immediately and provided with emotional support through hugs, and games and letting me volunteer there also. Simple kindness. It goes a long way. CMHT provided me with a lot of ‘assessments’ a lot of trying to diagnose me, and harmful medication. And when I asked to be taken off medication at my last appointment, the notes that were passed on to my doctor say I want an ‘increase’ in medication. This scared me. It may have been a typo on their part but I cannot work with CMHT any longer. In general it had an extremely negative impact on my mental health. However, the Employment Support Specialist helped me immensely. He confirmed my individuality, reassured me and provided with self confidence which allows me to move on. Through practical things comes the emotional support.

A warning to MH teams: Humans are individuals. Stop trying to categorise them, stop trying to put them into boxes. You spent more time trying to assess me, and less time listening to me. And remember this: A human life is a story. You would frequently try to get me to open up about my story, without realising that in doing so, you were still writing it too. I would open up to people when there was no pressure and in doing so I could let go. Under CMHT however, there is a lot of pressure. There is time pressure, there is ‘goal’ pressure. And then there are (inaccurate) Notes and bringing up things from the ‘last session’. Let go of the ‘analysis’, let go of the structures. Let humans be individuals. And remember: simple kindness goes a long way.