"Left feeling abused, worthless and traumatised"

I too have had a very bad experience with this Trust. My experience has been a distressing one from start to finish. It has left me feeling abused, worthless and traumatised.

I self referred myself for having had occasional depression in my life. After waiting 6 months with no response when I contacted them they told me they were too busy with other patients and to wait longer. Eventually after nearly 12 months I saw a nurse and several months later still this led to weekly out patient therapy. However, i never saw a psychiatrist or anyone senior, I was not assessed, and there was no monitoring or review of my progress. I never had a care plan either. I struggled to deal with some issues that were brought up in my therapy that were dealt with insensitively and judgmentally. When i tried to say something i was shouted down and accused me of being out of touch and in denial. Sessions kept being cancelled at the last minute and kept changing place which left me anxious and confused. Eventually it got to the point where it was doing me far more harm than good and I asked to see someone else. However they discharged me when they knew I was feeling suicidal. When both myself and my partner tried to find alternative help for me and I was in crisis at this point they simply referred me back to the trust who had discharged me but they didn’t respond . They asked why doesn’t my partner look after me? My partner raised a concern on my behalf about their bad service, lack of safeguarding, no risk assessment, no crisis help and their lack of compassion. Basically his complaint was about their whole flawed system and attitude. The response of the Trust was dismissive - they didn’t respond to him, refused to meet him and then said it was all my fault.

Any patient who raises a complaint with this Trust is dismissed as mentally unwell, and we are stereotyped with all kinds of humiliating labels in order for the trust to place the blame on us for their appalling services. Al in all, it has all been a very horrible time for both me and my partner and I wish I had never self referred to them in the first place.