"The worst mental health service I have ever…"

How this service justifies calling itself a psychological wellbeing service is beyond me. After working up the courage for a self-referral, I was told their earliest consultation appointment was over a month away. When that day finally came, it was the most discouraging and ridiculous conversation. I was told to expect guidance and support on which service was the best for me after losing three loved ones this year. Instead, the "Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner" drilled me about what service I wanted and why almost as if I was the expert on mental health services and could self-diagnose, not her. She ended up begrudgingly referring me to a service that I could expect to hear from in 4-6 weeks. 8 weeks have gone by and have heard nothing. I contacted the service in question to follow up and they indicated they have never received a referral and have no record of my name whatsoever (they also said for Camden residents the wait time is 3 months but for Islington residents the wait is only 6 weeks!!!!). I emailed the Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner with whom I spoke to clarify this mixup. She confirmed that she made the referral 8 weeks ago. When I emailed back the following day to ask for more assistance from her, I instead got an auto-reply that she is allegedly no longer working for iCope and to call the administration desk (which I am hesitant to believe). Two problems arise from this: the first is why my case was not referred to another Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner if my original one is telling the truth and is no longer in that role (I was speaking with her literally the previous day). The second is that, over the span of a week, not once has anyone at iCope Camden and Islington answered the main phone line or returned my voice messages asking for help (as in basic administrative help!).

Simply put, this service is beyond slow, tedious to deal with, has unsupportive and apathetic staff, demonstrates absolutely no desire to ensure the support and wellbeing of patients/beneficiaries, and has abysmal accountability mechanisms for issues or questions to be resolved (no one answers the phone!!!). This is absolutely inexcusable for a service that is meant to support people struggling with mental health who are reaching out for support and help. I hope some better oversight, feedback, and accountability processes can be implemented to ensure the necessary improvements are implemented.