"Telephone Assessment Experience"

I was told to find help with long term trauma from my consultant by ringing Inclusion for Counselling. I was worried that "being under the clinic" would be used to deny me counselling but the Consultant assured me this would not be a problem.

However when they rang me I was asked straightaway if I was on any medication and I said I was on antidepressants and sedatives, and the person on the phone who had a very flat disinterested tone of voice then I felt became  very negative in their tone and expressed strong verbal doubt about my suitability, and this made me feel very negative and put off and disparaged. I pointed out the clinic had sent me and that they hadn't even assessed me yet (it was clear they had already made up their mind and maybe their tone was bad throughout because they felt I was wasting their time).

And then they conducted the rest of the interview in a flat negative unsympathetic voice and directly said what I took to be  judgemental and condemnatory things to me that I found insulting. Of course I became a bit grumpy as they barked out the questions in a negative manner and after speaking of years of trauma they asked if there was any more twice without pausing to allow me to answer, and this made me feel very flustered as how much did they want and surely going into loads of things is what you do when you actually have the counselling...... then they said -your illness is uncontrolled, because I was beginning to find some disagreement with them, not because of any identifiable psychiatric symptoms. Remember this was NOT a Psychiatric consultation and they didn't even see me face to face; they were supposed to be assessing me for counselling and just that, not making what seemed uninformed pronouncements on my diagnosis and prognosis which could lead some susceptible patients to stop taking their medication.

Then having set me up to fail the assessment by being negative towards me throughout - they denied me help on the basis that my illness is "uncontrolled" however I displayed no other symptoms (I can list the pertinent ones a Psychiatrist might look for) and had had no trouble with a GP I saw earlier that day or the Consultant's secretary whom I also spoke with on the phone an hour before.

It seems that they had already decided on the basis of me responsibly taking prescribed medication that I was unsuitable for their counselling, and their attitude towards me was negative throughout. Which of course made me feel more down than I did before the call. Their listening and non verbal skills were very poor. They treated me not with the Unconditional Positive Regard that psychology recommends but with Negative and Conditional Regard and they gave me a very demeaning label in a forceful and negative tone of voice which I do not wish to repeat here for personal reasons.

They said I was too traumatised/too serious a case to be helped by them and I did find the telephone assessment traumatic. I feel relieved that I am not being accepted for help at Inclusion at Thurrock Health Centre because of my experience.

They seemed to show zero warmth and positivity in their voice and I thought that Counsellors are supposed to be Non-judgmental - that I am shocked a person who talks in this manner is employed as a Counsellor at all and I have never had such a problem with numerous assessments I've had over the decades - in fact they asked one question in particular that I do not believe was an official assessment question and it was more like a criminal interrogation at that point and they are most certainly not a police officer.

I feel strongly that this needs looking into by someone before more people suffer coming away from a telephone assessment feeling worse than they did before they had it.

I also feel I am permanently barred from accessing "Inclusion" although I did not behave in any manner personally offensive to the Assessor, I did not call them this or that as they did me. I would like to take this complaint to a higher authority.