Have we been forgotten about?

Hey @EternalFlower, thank you for reaching out to me!

The preferred way to provide any feedback and complaints is through SANE's Feedback and Complaint page or the feedback@sane.org email address. Not via saneservices@sane.org. which is a general enquiries email address.

When you send feedback and complaints via the preferred method:

Within two working days after receiving the complaint, we will contact you, acknowledging our receipt of the complaint and setting out how we will respond to the issue raised.

If action has been requested, we will investigate the issue and decide on what actions we will take.

When required under legislation, we will also advise relevant government departments and external agencies of the matter.

Once we've completed our investigation and within 28 days of our acknowledging your complaint, we will tell you in writing how we investigated the issue and what the outcome is.

If SANE cannot resolve the issue within this time, we will tell you the reasons for the delay and give you a revised timeframe.

If after our investigation your complaint is substantiated, we will tell you what we have done or will do to fix the issue. The appropriate SANE staff member will apologise to you.

If after our investigation your complaint is not substantiated, you will be told why and given information about other avenues for action.

I encourage you to follow up with Service Enquiries here: https://www.sane.org/contact-us if you believe you have emailed them or send through future feedback and complaints to the preferred location.

Does that answer your question @EternalFlower?

Take care

RiverSeal

hi @RiverSeal this is a great description, although it does raise some concerns (not sure if they'll ask you to delete it) - but this didn't happen at all to me.

It was acknowledged that things had occured wrongly, however I was not told of any steps that would be taken at all. This was a glaring gap.

I truly feel that there should be equal rules for everyone, eg if that is the protocal, why didn't it happen for me? If there is some bias against me, or Sane doesn't like me, that snot an ok reason. I am not a problem. I am just a person with complex mental health. If I have done something wrong, I certainly wasn't told that, rather I was blamed and ignored.

That is a great set of rules and I appreciate them, but why didn't they happen?

@Bow @MatchaToad

I am personally a little worried that HCC doesn't really regulate Sane, and I don't understand why Sane isn't under the juridiscration of MHWC.

I have complex trauma, am case managed in the public system, have the NDIS, so I have been recognised by the government and the health system as someone who needs support. I also have no history of violence. But here I am treated like I"m not an equal, a good person, or worthy or help. It hurts my feelings a lot 😞

hi @RiverSeal @Bow thank you for clarifying and i have sent it to the email address you provided. thanks for explaining it to me.


I am sorry if i have offended everyone. I want the forums to be inclusive for all people, including all religions, mental illness presentations, experiences, ages and backgrounds. I have experienced a lot of distress from the Sane emails at times, and when I asked advice for example if I could discuss a specific service, I was told I couldn't discuss it, (i had a post removed for mentioning a large public hospital) - I don't mind that, but some ppl do mention specific locations, so I don't fully understand.

I personally would find it quite helpful if there was an issue with a modetor if we could escalate it to someone else, as some of us might feel targeted by certain moderators. Like a "nurse in charge" lol a moderator in charge. No one should ever feel trapped or like they're stuck in a situation with nowhere to escalate, that is very hard for ppl with trauma.

@Bow I have reported a psychiatrist to the HCC once, and nothing was done but the HCC was okay, I guess.
They are not super helpful, i find the MHWC for public mental health a tiny bit better, but the HCC can help advocate for you if there's been a harmful disagreement, depending on what you need.

I think they are okay, they resolve disputes, but I don't think, since SANE is a digital forum, there is much that they can do about matters that occur here. That's just my opinion, I don't know, happy to be wrong.

Hey @EternalFlower, I'm sorry that was your experience with providing your feedback.

I just want to correct myself and the correct email address for Feedback and Complaints is feedback@sane.org

• https://www.sane.org/about-us/policies/feedback-and-complaints-policy

If you use this email address the appropriate SANE staff member will apologise to you, so it's more likely you will receive an apology from the organisation.

Thank you

RiverSeal

@RiverSeal i don't feel that they will acknowledge or apologise. That didn't happen in the past, when I used that complaint pathway. But I am very open to trying and understand I may have mistakeningly gone about it the wrong way.

@Bow @MatchaToad @DogMan79 @Flutterbug9 it is very hard to create a safe online space, i think that there are valid concerns here which , if this was trauma informed as a space, it would incorporate the voices of the forum users into adjusting the service.

@EternalFlower I think for the most part there are trauma informed folks. And they involved those that wanted to be involved in that codesign process. Ijustdont think there was a huge amount of …I want to say, big ticket items that were followed through with. And unfortunately for the forums, the focus has shifted to that online service you sign up for… guided programming thing… and resources and funding has been stripped from the forums. I think this is what a lot of people are feeling and noticing. And there has been no real acknowledgement from sane that this is the case and this is what it’s going to be like now. Yeah it’s still peer lead, but they can not deny that things have shifted for… I don’t like to say bad… negative…. It’s just not like it used to be.

I wish all mental health services were more trauma informed. I’m still fighting… well not fighting anymore, I’ve give up…. That the organization that my support worker is from think that it’s a great idea to change SW whenever they like. That is so far from being trauma informed. I have zero safe. Zero trust in my ‘supports’ at the moment. And it could of been different

@Bow i've seen this happen to other services, so you're reminding me about how things can suddenly implode.... or sometimes a service is very centred in individuals who make up the vibe or the ethos and when they change swiftly to new ppl, the vibe is somehow crushed. I had that at my local parc, once management changed, and they focussed more on supporting men? And hiring male workers, and then I just felt it all went downhill for me personally. No one's "fault" but I wasn't the demographic anymore.

(I'm a woman at the time I was 34 or so).

Was the presentation in the US to create similar things to the forum in the US?

I don't know when things changed, because for me, there was already shifts a year ago, and I saw more of a promotional approach, rather than a community-led approach. To help ppl you have to see them, and i felt unseen.

I think safety and boundaries are very important in all spaces, and for that there has to be transparency. I felt this was a huge strength of the forums, a trauma-infroemd approach ie if I spoke up I wasn't shut down, but over time, I felt that has been lost, and in some ways, peer voices are not wanted as much. So in that way, I feel lowered, less important, not wanted etc etc which in turns creates less trust.

@Bow @EternalFlower I’ve given up fighting and trying when comes to the forums. Everything I do feels like a waste of time. I’ve had enough. I’m done.

Last few weeks due to few different things I’ve been left feeling I don’t want to be here anymore and my MH would be better if I walk away from the forums all together.