"Nottingham Specialist Depression Service"

In 2016 I had a complete breakdown (very severe episode of recurrent depression) and attempted suicide. After 4. 5 months in a psychiatric unit I came out, but was still not very stable, and I deteriorated and was admitted again for a month in June 2017.

After discharge I was under the care of Manor Road Local Mental Health Team, and saw a succession of locum psychiatrists and one CPN consistently. I didn't feel like any of these clinicians listened to me and heard what I needed - they each had their own narrow ideas of how to help and refused to consider alternatives or the reasons why they wouldn't work.

I'd been under the care of the Specialist Depression Service previously, and they were willing to take me on again if Manor Road would refer me to them. However, it took 6-7 months for Manor Road to get their act together and refer me (clinicians said they'd never heard of it, despite SDS sending them a letter asking them to refer me), by which time I had deteriorated again, mainly due to having my antidepressants stopped and being put on semisodium valproate by a (seemingly incompetent) psychiatrist in 2017.

My time with SDS has been the complete opposite. Dr Nixon is incredibly kind and knowledgeable about medication and treatment protocols, and he listened to what I had to say and took my views into account when deciding on medication. He gave me full information about all the options and monitored me closely and effectively when I needed it. I had a short course of therapy in 2018 with Anne, who applied CBT using a standard protocol, which didn't work very well, but she then retired.

After a gap and a further change of medication I started receiving therapy in 2020 from Richard. He is by far the best therapist I've ever had - he applies CBT intelligently and changed his approach to best fit my needs. When I was diagnosed with autism recently, he took that into account and has tailored sessions (led by my feedback) so that I can get the best from them. I have made great progress so far, and I anticipate that this course of therapy is going to be truly life-changing, as are the medications I'm now taking. The support SDS give is not limited to the 6-8 sessions you get from IAPT, it's tailored to the individual, and it's been demonstrated to be much more effective in preventing relapse. I can't recommend them highly enough, I wish more secondary care LMHTs were aware of their service.