"I referred myself to a GP for a decline in mental health"

I referred myself to a GP for a decline in mental health in June 2021 and am now coming to an end with OT in October 2021 feeling like a much more resilient, happy individual.

I felt I have struggled with my mental health, in the form of mild depression and anxiety, for over 6 years now. I only found the inner confidence to deal with it June of this year and it has, truly, completely changed my outlook on how I feel. I did not know about the services available to me in my local area but now feel so lucky to have accessed them and been given the support from Mental Health Link Workers, Occupational Therapists and Peer Support Workers.

Sara Menzer in Occupational Therapy helped me face my biggest issues such as social anxiety, nervousness around university work, a loss in confidence, sleep issues, and a general lack of care for myself. Using OT techniques such as the '5-4-3-2-1 method', mindfulness apps, breaking things down into 'bitesize' chunks, sleep diaries, self-help websites and several more, I improved many aspects of my life that helped me become a generally more happy and confident person. The 6 sessions I had with Sara helped me feel a lot more resilient and able to face up to difficult tasks, rather than avoiding them like I used to do.

I enjoyed being able to talk to someone about issues that I didn't quite realise how harmful were to my mental health and outlook on life. It can be scary when using clinical terms and labels such as 'social anxiety' but understanding the background behind some of these issues and how to resolve them really helped me learn a lot about myself and overcome my worries.

I would change very little about the OT course I had with Sara other than possibly being able to have some meetings face-to-face, yet I understand that COVID and social distancing measures undoubtedly affected this.

I also appreciate that after a 6-session block, the ability is there to re-refer myself back into some OT sessions if I ever need a "top-up", as Sara said. This makes me feel very supported, even after our sessions came to a close.

Overall, I am so happy with my experiences with SAMH, OT, and all other mental health services that have been offered to me and would recommend them to anyone else that was in the poor mental state I started off in. All I can really say is 'thank you'!