WREN Women’s Recovery Network Victoria

It looks promising @Cuddlebear but seems to have a limited catchment - or maybe that's for hospital in the home. Fingers crossed they can help you.

Hey @Cuddlebear

I use to go inpatient at an all women’s trauma centre. It was really helpful. I loved the groups and the support from other patients and especially the staff. Doctors down to cleaners. It was a small facility. Smaller than what WReN seems to be. I learnt allot about myself and a lot of why things happen and how to work through things better. I had never heard of mindfulness or grounding. I gain so much knowledge.

My centre closed down so I can’t go there any more but if I don’t have Pix with diabetes I would have gone back.

I was cared for and looked after. My only responsibility wash showering, getting dressed and getting to groups. My room was cleaned all food was cooked for me and my meds were handed out. I had no access to them.

I don’t know if this helps but I’d really like you to think about it if it’s a possibility. You might be surprised. Also, it’s voluntary and if you don’t like it and it’s not for you you can just chose to leave.

@Dimity Hello sweet how are you? Oddly I just tagged you in another thread. Yeah the hospital in home is limited to it being close to the facility. But I’m going as an inpatient. They accepted me. Referral was done Monday, intake appointment Wednesday by Thursday they had done the verification of certificate for my seeing guide dog and Friday they offered me a place for Monday. But I have 2 important specialist appointments and an MRI which I’ve waited ages for so I said to them please have a bed after 3rd September. I’ll be there around a month. It’s a service paid for by tax payers but is operated by Alfred public hospital and Ramsey Clinic private. The ward is in private and my seeing guide dog will be with me.

Im pretty terrified really. Being deaf and legally blind makes it harder as well. I’m going to be tapering in there and they will try help me be better than when I went in. My last experience at in patient tapering went very very badly in the public system so I’m really hoping this place gets it right. I’ve been really unwell and well it’s pretty obvious I need to be in there. Just wish I had family and friends who would be there but don’t have any of that.

Hugs @Cuddlebear this could be the break you need but I totally understand your apprehension. It will be a big change for Wilbur too.

Hopefully the peer support and allied health they seem to offer make the experience easier. It would be wonderful if you can finally taper and get onto effective new medication.

I replied on the other thread about favourites and subscriptions - they're not easy or intuitive to find if you don't know.

@Captain24 Hello lovely how are you? So good to hear from you. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences in the women’s only facility. It’s really helped a lot. I’m just really sad the one you attended closed down. Having women’s only is so important. WReN has 24 beds in the city location and 6 in regional. It’s broken up into different sections so there’s in those 24 beds women with chronic severe mental illness from abuse/trauma, women with eating disorders and perinatal where women can come with their babies. I will attend the workshops however I’m really well educated on mindfulness, grounding etc. None of these are currently bringing any relief whatsoever. But I’ll attend the workshops cause it allows to connect and keep trying. I’ll be tapering off a medication in there because I’m at high risk if I do it at home. It’s a really hard medication to come off and when I tapered initially at a public facility they did it too quick, added a new medication too quick and I ended up with serotonin toxicity and actually additional trauma. Since then I’ve been sicker than I ever have. I’ve had really bad experiences in public mental health and always been in mixed gender wards which make me feel unsafe due to awful things happening. I’m pretty terrified of going. My seeing guide dog is coming with me so at least he will be able to guide me & he’s so loving he will be a good emotional support too. Honestly I’m glad I’ll only have to look after my seeing guide dog, shower and dress myself. I havnt showered now in 6 weeks. Can’t cook can’t do anything for my basic functioning. So yeah looks like I do need an inpatient stay.

Hopefully you'll make friends with other people on the ward too @Cuddlebear 

Hey @Cuddlebear

Recognising that you have been really unwell and that an inpatient facility would be a beneficial space for you right now takes a lot of courage.

It sounds like a womens only facility will be a really valuable space to try! Feeling safe and comfortable while receiving this support is so important and can have a really positive impact on the overall experience. It also sounds comforting that you will be in a private ward and your lovely seeing eye dog will be with you.

It is understandable to be feeling terrified during this time, but I want to acknowledge the part of you that has reached out to the community here for some support, hope, and encouragement! It sounds like you are holding some great insights here in recognising that although the workshops might not be beneficial to you, there is the opportunity to connect with others and keep trying. Sometimes, just being around others who understand us and accept us without judgement can be really meaningful.

I will be sending warm thoughts your way!

Hey, I have been a inpatient with Wren before, and look i guess its a hard question to answer, where i am there is only 2 beds allocated in the private hospital. And I think 3 for hospital in the home. I am on the way list for hospital in the home, which unfortunately I will be discharged from PARC for a while before I can start hospital in the home. The ladies are lovely. I do have to say not sure if its the same but here it's a maximum of 2 week stay, I was a little disheartened when I had been there a week, and then they started changing my medications, I was discharged while still withdrawing from them. It certainly wasn't pretty.. i hope it helps you. Just make sure you push for what you want, and if you feel something isn't right, let someone know.

Also, I found only seeing the staff of wren for 45 minutes monday to Friday not enough.. and as you are in the hospital you if you need to go anywhere you have to be driven as its hospital policy that while your a patient you cant drive due to insurance. the staff are trained in mental health but not to the extent of the wren staff.

@unstablebutterf Hello my friend. How are you? Thank you for sharing your lived experience. Part of going to WREN is to taper. If they send me home when I’m still unwell I will not cope. I know this from previous experience. It sounds like thwts what they’ve done to you and I cannot express how sorry I am because I know how brutal it is. I can’t go through that again. if that’s what WREN does I can’t do it.

Having only 45 minutes with staff on weekdays will leave me very bad shape. I have no family or friends to come and visit and will totally rely on WREN for support. If withdrawing my ability to advocate is diminished. I’m petrified and scared. I’m also deaf and legally blind. This really makes it hard. My experience at APARC was terrible. Bad things happened there. I’m just so sorry you are being discharged withdrawing.