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Advocating for change

Continuity of care- I need your help please

Continuity of care- I need your help please

Little back story first. In the last 12 months I have had a change of psychologist, support worker, case manager and psychiatrist and a change in the way I access support with my dietitian.

I access a mental health support service, I have a support worker through them, she attends most of my appointments with me, does daily phone call check ins and weekly home visits. I attend groups through this service also. I’ve had one support worker change because everyone recognised that I just gel better with another worker.

This service has a new manager and his big bright idea is that we will change support workers every 3 months. It is his view that we are customers of the service and that we should not get attached to the one worker.

This just goes against everything that a person with mental health issues needs. Consistency is so important. I’ve just done a quick google search on the importance of continuity of care for mental health patients and all the results say how important it is.

I’ve expressed my concerns through tears to my support worker. I’ve reminded her of all the recent changes I’ve had and that I just need consistency. It takes ages for me to build trust and rapport and to have rip that out from under me every 3 months is just so stupid. I can guarantee it will be a massive step backwards for me.

id love any of your input or feedback. Your personal experiences. Ways in which I can verbalise how stupid this is in proper words. I am going to present my concerns to this new manager and I’d love your help please!
@tyme @Jynx @Snowie any peer workers??? Peer guides???

17 replies

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In response to: Continuity of care- I need your help please

Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

For sure, I really hope they listen to you @Bow. I too am completely baffled by this decision, not only because it's the opposite of what is needed in provision of care, but because it seems to have been made with absolutely no attempt to actually ask the clients, who will be the most impacted, whether it is a good idea or not. Utter ignorance, honestly. Yikes.

Let us know how it all goes hun, fingers crossed 🤞💜

In response to: Continuity of care- I need your help please

Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

@Bow the Mh system can be so disappointing. If a client came to me telling me what you’ve said here in the future, as a social worker I would advocate, because this isn’t fair for you. I really do hope they listen to you and hear you out.

Sending you love and hugs 💖🫂

In response to: Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

I’m worried that I will become ‘that annoying client’ and make a big deal of this and it get me absolutely no where. I have put so much effort into this and for him to already have made this decision and this is all just formality. My voice is so little.

it will have such hugely negative impacts on me if it goes ahead. And I don’t want to make a big deal of what I know will happen cause I don’t want it to come across as being manipulative? If that makes sense?

In response to: Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

When it comes to advocating for your needs @Bow I vote you embrace being the most annoying, insistent, thorn-in-the-side of these folks as you can be. Because you deserve to have your needs met, and because as we've all already pointed out, this decision is just plain dumb. It's not trauma-informed, not healthy, and I sincerely doubt that you are the only person who would be negatively impacted by it. What if there's others who don't have the ability to speak up about this? Maybe you're not just standing up for yourself, but for them as well. So, so what if you annoy them? Their annoyance pales in comparison to your need for consistency in your MH supports. Their annoyance isn't your responsibility, but your needs are. So get loud, get insistent, and get angry - because you deserve to have the right kind of care.

Acvocating for your needs with clear-cut communication, and with the support of others in your treating team, is a far cry from manipulation hun. It's just communicating.

In response to: Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

Hey @Bow

How did this all go?

In response to: Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

@LilMapleLeaf I’m staying with my current support worker for this next quarter so that I can do a lengthy transition to a new one for the next quarterly change.
So while yes I am staying with my SW, it didn’t really make much difference, I will still be changing support workers every 3 months.

In response to: Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

Re: Continuity of care- I need your help please

@Bow

UGH That is so frustrating for you! I'm so sorry this is happening. Also you did an amazing job on writing up your argument, you should be proud of what you've been able to do, even if management didn't agree.

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