"Impact on my recovery attempts"

Canon House feels like the house that Southern Health like to forget.  

I feel that Southern Health should now take the lead and admit that their Mental Health Support for Patients is not working.

I dont think that Staff are able to cope with the changes to Social Change in our Communities.  

So When I was assigned a Care Coordinator

I didn't know what a Care Coordinator was for, or the role of one. I am still under this umbrella.

At Canon House Shirley Southampton there was an unreal lack of Staff Involvement and basic situational knowledge more so there was a Patient expectation to actually work to pick up the pieces that the service was not able to deliver.

Fancy Words such as "Share Care" which for some services users promoted a false sense of hope and stability. My experience of Shared Care was practically obsolete. Meanwhile there were many indicators that my mental health was not in a good place and that I considered and acted on my suicidal thoughts with few near misses. (Friends Intervention)

Being suicidal, meant to me there was no hope, I have been prevented from my worldly exit because of the hard work from the Acute Mental Health Team and the numerous amount of good friends. Being suicidal means allot more than just harming yourself or considering it. There was /is still so much talk in my head(chatter) so much feeling of condemnation, Injustice, Prejudice, Discrimination, fear of how to make ends meet, fear of getting through the weekend, fear of getting through the night, fear of leaving my family, my friends, my life I once loved and my goals and aspirations which were the Essence, the Soul of my very existence.

Once being successful in a career, enjoying challenges and new objectives to rise up to and then to being treated like there was an expectation that I would be OK without a weekly care support network but full realisation that I was still experiencing disturbing thoughts. Even when these episodes of disturbances happened, being left abandoned, not thought of, no concern shown.

The AMHT( Acute Mental Health) Psychology Team generally were excellent. 

->CMHT(Community Mental Health Team) A staff member delayed my treatment and recovery. This is how.

-> Direct Handovers from AMHT (Acute Mental Health Team) were received

but if using a sliding scale, they were 4/10 = slow to 1/10 obsolete in reacting to the continuation of my care.

-> Welfare Services were only Once engaged by my Care Coordinator. Welfare

Support and follow up for additional help if needed was immediately noticeable after the handover yet only on 1 day out of a consecutive number of months was there any involvement resulting in a noticeable effort.

-> Mental Health Services

A continuance of Mental Health Services which I had requested after being discharged from AMHT were delayed and or cancelled due to over numbers. The delay I was told would have caused a 3 month waiting period. However in this 3 month waiting period "Shared Care"not once picked up the phone after episodes of hospitalisation and Emotional Distress. This was also the case when I requested a callback or had a discussion with either my Care Coordinator or AMHT.

Neither did my Care Coordinator, Shared Care choose to act on the evidence of my distress. When Shared Care did speak with me I would be open, transparent about my thoughts, however no intervention was ever instated or followed up.

I still have suicidal thoughts, My 1 to 1 meetings at Canon House failed to accommodate/treat my fears, phobias. Usually when I had left the door of that place that I had left their door and would never hear anything from them until next appointment. I actually was expected (not empathetically prompted) to call for help when feeling low. Which I did. Usually to AMHT. Again there was no follow up from the CMHT.

Occasionally an irregular questionnaire evaluating my mental health was filled in, never regularly thats for sure. Therefore how can a picture of the patient be achieved without certain regular interventions. There was never any real concern. My personality changed when I feel low and I don't want to speak with anyone. Let alone if I am planning on not telling anyone my plan.

My conclusion to this service.

Probably due to excessive workload and current funding crisis for Mental Health Services in and around Southampton and Hampshire this has directly impacted on my recovery attempts from mental ill health. The deep inner feeling that when your alone, there is no prospect of support, no prospect of rehabilitation. There is only an expectation that you are passing through a service and at anytime you may loose your position.  Overall I felt that staff were generally very good and caring though some staff I felt had poor interpersonal skills. 

Mental Health is not a Job. However it is a Job to treat.