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Very upset and angry at the dismissive treatment

Posted By yellowkw47

"Very upset and angry at the dismissive treatment"

About: Rotherham CMHT North

(as a service user),

Received a phone call from a staff member.

A group for emotional coping skills was set up with no date to start when first discussed.

I did receive a letter for date start but i had already organised to be away.

I let the mental health team know.

Unfortunately because of this i missed two of the appointed dates.

The concern for me was the phone call i received on the day of my return.

The staff member telephoned me speaking to me like i was some naughty child, informing me that because i had missed two sessions that i was being kicked off the course, but they would be nice & put me back on waiting list for next one, but if i missed another they would not see me anymore.

Basically i was being punished in my eyes for sorting something out myself that helped my mental health greatly.

It was the power dynamic , the way they spoke to me, triggered me massively. I was very upset and angry at the dismissive treatment from this staff member.

This goes very deep into my own childhood trauma of being branded a naughty child.

There was no understanding , they didn't give me chance to explain why i had missed the appointments, it felt like all they cared about was disciplining me.

There was no set date in mind when the group was decided, they just sprung it on me weeks before it was due to start & no consideration for me having my own plans and life and no leeway.

My concern also was i spoke to another person who was attending the same group who was looking forward to me being there  & they also informed me there was only three other people in the group.

The way i see it is there was room for me to attend, and with genuine care for patients this should have not been a problem.

I am only attending because its a hoop i've got to jump through to get a diagnosis that i've been long waiting.

I know how to cope emotionally, otherwise i would be dead!

Very long story regarding mental health services for myself and family history and this power dynamic and lack of care is what needs to change.

Lived experience creates genuine understanding and care but this staff member instead left me feeling worse off after one conversation. People who work with other people need to care about people and i didn't feel that at all from this member of staff.

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Responses

Response from Lindsey Watson, Service Manger, Primary care mental health, CMHT & Health & Wellbeing, Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust 5 months ago
Lindsey Watson
Service Manger, Primary care mental health, CMHT & Health & Wellbeing,
Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 10/12/2024 at 15:59
Published on Care Opinion at 19:01

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding your experience with the North CMHT groups pathway. I am very sorry your experience was not positive and you felt dismissed by the staff member you spoke to on the phone. I can assure you we do not want people who use our services to feel upset or angry.

I would encourage you to contact our Patient Experience team if you would like to further discuss your concerns. You can contact the team using the following details:

Rdash.pals.email@nhs.net or telephone 0800 154 334

I have shared your concerns with the groups pathway lead who has acknowledged your points in relation to communication of the group starting dates and your negative experience of communication with a member of staff. They also send their apologies for your poor experience with the service.

Therapy is important for recovery and I agree this should be a supportive process as for many people, therapy is also painful and incredibly difficult.

Once again, I am very sorry you have not had a positive experience with the service and I wish you well for the future.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by yellowkw47 (a service user)

Thank you for your response I believe this whole platform is exactly what the service needs so its great am reading responses.

About time patients felt listened to & heard.

That's the Start to the healing process.

A lot of people who struggle with mental health are actually very intelligent people they just dont realise it or value themselves but sure as hell they have a lot of empathy and understanding of other people's feelings, born out of trauma unfortunately, and survival in development years especially Eupd or bpd as they call it now.

Believe you me I know therapy is difficult with the lack of real help from services I have had to do a lot of my own therapy with educating myself through books and extensive research into what is going off in this brain of mine.

So to be spoken to like a disobedient child is not acceptable and I'm grateful for all the apologies, just hoping it changes the power dynamics and that staff realise this is another human being struggling so instead of an egotistical approach, a human one with genuine care & understanding will help the patient more in their healing process.

Care & understanding will work better for the patient.

Thank you, I will email the address given.

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