"Exactly what we needed!!"

My daughter got a working diagnosis when she was three, shortly after she got a proper diagnosis of autism and further diagnosis's of sensory processing disorder and sensory modulation disorder. These were done very well, quickly but not rushed and sufficiently by the staff members, I was very impressed.

The downside was we have been left since, struggling with no support offered by anyone anywhere until recently when I went to my GP regarding her eating so I was referred to a clinical psychologist feeding specialist.

The appointment was just for me. I went to the appointment feeling very anxious because I didn't know what to expect and after no one in Staffordshire willing to help us because of funding issues, I was concerned it would be a flop, how wrong was I? !

When I went into the room, it was very clean and posh, the person came across as friendly, concerned, interested in what I had to say and very knowledgeable. This person was very thorough and covered everything, our appointment even went over by half hour and they wasn't clock watching, just wanting to help. My mental health was discussed and my family, everything was brought into it. For the first time I felt listened to, encouraged and had hope which made me very emotional. Before I left a detailed plan was made which filled me with confidence however a bit confused as I wasn't too sure what the service was actually all about but our nurse at my GP surgery explained that it is actually standard practise to be offered something like this but with money issues it isn't being offered properly.

I'm so pleased to of have someone that wants to work with us as a family as well, regular, consistent and long term which is amazing. I could not do without this service, they need more money to help more families and keep helping our family. If this got ripped away from me now, I think I'd have a breakdown. This person wasn't just concerned for my daughter but for my mental health issues and our family as a whole which is exactly what I/we need. There is more to this than just eating issues and a possible eating disorder too so it would be so useful in many ways and hopefully things can become clearer, lighter, easier and more manageable as a whole, hopefully getting her eating under control before the eating disorder escalates.

I want to thank this person so much for seeing me, listening to me, helping me, giving me that extra time, talking about my issues as well as just my daughter's etc. I cannot express enough how important this is to us.

I feel we need more things offered through Mid Psych like groups, classes, education, more clinical psychologists, specialists in certain areas so they can spend more time with us, give us what we need!