My time here

Hi @unimportant,

That sounds like such a difficult experience. I can really hear how disappointing and unsettling it must've been to have things end so suddenly, especially when you'd hoped for continuity and proper support.

I'm really glad you shared this, it takes courage so speak up about experiences that didn't feel safe or supportive.

I wonder if it might also help to share your feedback directly with the organisation if you haven't already, most organisations would have a feedback and complaints form/process where you can put it in writing. Sometimes doing that can be a way to feel heard or to help things improve for others in future.

You deserve consistent and compassionate support, and it's clear how much you've tried to advocate for yourself.

Take care of yourself

Nala2022 🙂

I have provided feedback here and in their facebook.

The abrupt ending was only something that caught me by surprise.

At least the therapists told me they were doing this unlike here where I was told I would have support in one month to then be told we cut you short now go away for 6 months.

In my years helping clients across many avenues of MH.

This one has stood out as especially cruel and inhuman.

But places are designed to run certain ways.

HI @unimportant ,
I'm sorry to hear your experience was not what you had expected or needed - and I agree that it is important to be able to share these experiences with others and have a voice. It sounds like there was a "communication breakdown" with the service not keep you updated/informed of what was happening and why. I'm sorry to hear there was not support for helping find other supports to transfer to if their program wasn't meeting you needs.

I am wondering if this was prior to the holiday period shutdown?

I know the services paused over the holiday shutdown period (and are soon to re-commence), and I know that has been a really hard time for many people because of it - you are certainly not alone in that experience/feeling.

I say all this as someone who has not been in the program myself. I know different programs/resources suit different people, and that the same program can be really helpful to some people and not very helpful to others. I really hope you do find something more suited to your needs. I haven't found any one thing that is 100% suited to my needs, but I have found a combination of different supports can help "fill in the gaps" between them to a better degree.

I'm wondering what type of program/supports would best meet what you need? What would it look like?

(Maybe we as a community may have some additional ideas? I know one of my core supports I found because another member on the forums mentioned it 🙂 Nowhere else has ever mentioned it to me!)

To clarify the timeline: there was a Christmas shutdown period. However, prior to that break, I was told the program would continue in January. The expectation set was that support would resume aftr the holiday period.

Instead, when January arrived, I was informed that I had already been exited from the program, without warning or discussion. There was no transition, no continuation as previously indicated, and no support offered to bridge or hand over. I was told I only needed a brief “hello/goodbye” and that I could reapply in six months to start again.

The issue was not the Christmas pause itself — it was that support was terminated rather than resumed, despite assurances it would continue. That sudden withdrawal was destabilising.

It is important to understand the risks we face if we feel that someone will help when they jusy want you to go away.

That is so hurtful when you are told support is coming soon and then told it is not @unimportant . 😢 It reminds me of an experience I had once, which I will share as a way of helping show that I do understand to some degree the pain and that you are not the only person who this sometimes happens to sadly.

My psychiatrist and I decided she was no longer really helping my MH improve and that maybe another psychiatrist would be able to offer some alternative techniques or ideas/perspectives. So she referred me to her colleague in the same clinic. Receptionists told me they would call when they could book me in for a first appointment. I used to see my psychiatrist every month for an hour. After a month I did not have any call from them so I called back, and was told I was still on the waiting list - which would be about 6 months. Unfortunately 6 months was pretty "normal" wait for a first appointment where I was at the time, which is unfortunate because the reason I was being transferred was because I was declining into higher risk again. I waited patiently for the call (I didn't ask my GP for a different referral because I was on the waiting list for this one which I had heard was also a good psychiatrist - I had chatted to some of her patients in the waiting room in the past years, as over time I would see some of the same people if they also had a consistent appointment time). The call never came. And I mean never. Even when I called the practice 1 year later to ask if my previous psychiatrist would write a short-term script for a medication that I only ever used when I was a relatively high-risk --- I got the script in the mail, but no check-in or any acknowledgement of being on a waitlist etc etc.

I was angry, and I wondered if I had "done something wrong" or if they were just trying to get rid of me. My mum was also very angry (but didn't tell me until much later) - she considered putting in a complaint, but didn't feel it was her place. In hindsight, because of the my risk-level, I wish I had put in a complaint to them and/or the HCCC/AHPRA at the time. I don't know if I was a one-off, or if this ever happened to others at the practice also. 🤔

Yeah the one thing I have learned layely is that there is no help and if you ask for any the only answer is $ and if a servuce is no cist to yoi, it will je no direct support to you either.

At leat this forum helps secure funding to [Moderator Edit].

As for the complaint, I have one complaint now transferring feom the ombudsman to the human right commission. This is a big thing and I am not sure I want another case to ddeal with yet. Will decide when feeling a bit better.

@unimportant That sounds incredibly difficult. That's completely understandable, no one should be made to feel discarded like that. I'm really sorry to hear that was your experience.

Thank you for sharing your perspective so openly.

Nala2022 x

Why did the word funding need to be removed from my post?

Why is it wrong to understand that you don't do anything unless you are paid?

It is a business after all.

Also as stated in the other thread.

Ca. Someone please post the program outline that shows I would be limited to half of the sessioms promised and where it shows the program is only a month long?

I am asking for transparency, not hiding details to manipulate with.