"I’d like to thank the overnight emergency staff"

I know this was a while ago, I believe in January but it may have been before too. I also don’t know any of the staff working that nights names but I really suddenly felt the need to express my thanks to all the royal berks staff that night.

I had tried to overdose on codiene, I had been depressed most of my late teens and into young adulthood, none of my family or friends took me seriously when I had taken the courage to confide in them what had happened to me physically in recent months.

I was so lost and depressed I really felt there was no way for me to get back to a sense of normality.

When my mum drove me to the hospital sometime around 2am maybe I wasn’t expecting any sort of hospitality, in my mind I was just another dumb young person who had done something stupid as my friends had made me feel.

Instead I was able to discuss one to one with a doctor what had happened and subsequent nurses and an on-site counsellor. After just giving each of them a brief run down of recent events I was taken very seriously, everyone was so kind and understanding and looked after me and my mother as best as they could that busy night and clearly weren’t just being nice for the sake of it, they really did understand why I felt that way at the time.

I would just like to say that without them treating me that way, I don’t think I would have ever felt like anyone cared. And I am truly grateful, because that one act of kindness from the staff helped me understand that what had been going on was a serious problem, I was able to sit down with my family and have a proper conversation and then change my life around.

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. If anyone ever gets to read this that is!