"They changed, and saved, my daughters life...."

Our teenage daughter was referred to Elcas in 2016 after exhibiting a number of troubling physical symptoms, as well as several psychological ones. The referring paeditrician told us that they felt that our daughter needed to be medicated immediately for severe depression as well as needing very specialist intervention. When we attended her initial assessment the doctor informed us that they almost never medicate children under sixteen with antidepressants, and that talk therapies would be a better option. However the doctor agreed that they needed to spend more time with her before making a recommendation. Two weeks later the same doctor came to us and apologised. They said that they were wrong, that our daughter was extremely unwell and that as a team the decision had been made to offer her antidepressants. Our daughter was very resistant at first and refused to take them, however the doctors never once tried to force her. They talked her through exac tly what the side effects might be and how she would benefit from the medication. They also sent her for CBT.

Her CBT therapist was a godsend. They built up a rapport, never pushed or forced her to do anything, and slowly coaxed her into opening up. Then the therapist told us that he thought that our daughter was autistic. We were shocked, but agreed to her being assessed. Thank goodness we did. Our daughter was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome in October 2016. Suddenly so many things made sense. However our daughter struggled with the late diagnosis and continued to suffer from severe anxiety and depression. Her attendance at school was shockingly low. The staff then made the decision to offer her a place withing the Intensive Support Therapy day unit, which offers education coupled with therapies.

It was difficult at first, and there were days when she would refuse to do anything, but gradually things began to change for the better. The average time spent on the unit is twelve weeks however our daughter spent fifteen weeks there. It was a life changing experience for her. The staff never once gave up or turned their backs on her. They were unwaiveringly supportive and worked tirelessly to help our daughter learn to cope with her anxiety, depression, stress and physical symptoms. They kept us in the loop every step of the way and involved our whole family in every desicion.

Our daughter is now in a school that is better equipped to deal with her needs thanks to the staff at IST. She is more confident, has made new friends, and despite missing almost a year of education she feels able to tackle her GCSE exams in summer. She intends to go on to train as a Mental Health Nurse working with young people after being inspired by the people who helped her.

There are no quick fixes. There are therapies and treatments that take time and commitment. If you work with them then these people with give everything they have to help your child. We will never be able to thank them enough for giving us our daughter back.