Getting Help 🤐

@Former-Member, I think I can relate. Unfortunately I think the gaps in the system are getting bigger and more and more people are going to slips through without getting the help they need. The system is geared to help people that fit into certain criteria and if you don't fit, then, you are pretty much on your own. I get frustrated at the ammount of money it costs to get professional help, its hard enough to make ends meet and then when you are paying for meds it just gets harder. The people in those positions and places seem to think money is no object or problem for anyone.

I hope you can navigate your way through the crazy maze 🙂

@Former-Member @Gazza75 I am 100% with you on this. They always say they can help at first and then they realize it is harder than they thought (like you told them at the start) and then they say you need to see someone else like it is your fault. I am CONSTANTLY very afraid that anything I say or do will end me back in hospital because my experience there was so horrible. Even to the point that the sound of keys or beeping locks will make me stop what I am doing and make me want to run and hide. As @Gazza75 said the system is designed for people who fit certain things are if you aren’t one of those people it is fend for yourself. I also think the cost of a psychologist is highway robbery. They are allowed to charge up to 250 per 45 mins in Australia and some people get that much money per week. Nearly every professional I have worked with has given up because they couldn’t fix me like they wanted too and I never asked to be fixed I just needed someone to talk to about it. But they want to feel useful and if you can’t make them feel useful they take it out on you and blame you for not trying to get better. Sorry you are dealing with this it really sucks.

Hey @Former-Member I refuse to navigate the public system for fear of falling through the cracks. I think it shows much courage trying to give it another go, even though it seems you have little choice in this case. I was lucky enough to have psychology funded under the NDIS, as there is no way on Earth I could afford private sessions otherwise. My psychologist works in the public system in an acute setting during the day and moonlights as a private therapist in the evenings and Saturday mornings. She is very good.

I'm sorry to read you are without help for some important anniversaries coming up. That must feel terribly difficult having that knowledge.

Sitting with you...

Hey @Former-Member,

I'm sorry to hear you have been referred on to someone with more trauma experience when you had built a connection with the bereavement social worker. And that the referral then was not appropriate due to them not working or another person with a big gap fee and not so much experience.

It points to such huge gaps in our mental health system. I'm glad you can receive support here around the taxing and disppointing parts of navigating this system. There are some good professionals out there and times where the system can be supportive, and I hope some are experiencing that too.

Take care today 🌻

Tortoiseshell

@Former-Member I had nothing but grief with the public system and met some very mediocre psychologists and psychatrists. My current private pdoc threatens to send me to the public system if I dont take my medications etc.......

Hi @Eden1919

@Former-Member, @Queenie

I have been reading your post Eden about your struggles to get help from the MH system and from MH professionals. And I fully agree that the system has many flaws and some mental health professionals charge too much and cannot help some clients. However I just need to comment that every mental health professional is different and many are able to help, as many members of the forums regularly note. I encourage you to keep on reaching out for professional care. it may take you a number of attempts but it can be worth it.

Whitehawk

Hi @Former-Member , @Bunniekins , @Gazza75 , @Queenie , @CheerBear , @Former-Member , @Former-Member .

I tend to agree with lots that has been said here. I also think that we make the steps forward when we are ready and able to do so. It’s really hard to do if you are in crisis lots (my past experiences). It’s one of those things for me that I’ve heard some things from mh professionals repeated over and over during the years, and got frustrated and angry at the time because I didn’t think was helpful, but then the penny finally drops and I can take it in and work on it. Sometimes it’s been years for the penny to drop.

I was about to be passed on in the public mh system as not being 'fixable'. I don’t know where it came from, but I let out an impassioned plea to the psychiatrist listing all the things I wanted to work on and what I needed help with. It was a big turning point for me after being passed from worker to worker. The psychiatrist listened and has taken me on for psychtherapy and it’s been life changing. I’ve had a mix of helpful and not so helpful mh practioners over the years. I totally agree with @CheerBear

• “In saying all of that, I hold on and push through because sometimes I come across people who make it worth it. Workers who really do get it and who work in a way that is supportive and makes a difference. I know I would have given up a long time ago and that I wouldn't be here today without that support.”

Good luck to all finding the person/s that make a difference. 💜🤗

@Former-Member I am not going to go into details but I never said every single person who works in the field is bad but i have met an awful lot and i mean A LOT and it has been about 5-10% max that have been anywhere near decent and again that is in relation to my issues and i hope that others can feel positively but for me the mental health system has done so much damage and has hurt me so badly i will NEVER ever be able to trust it or have faith in it again. that is just me and again others i am sure would say differently but for me searching endlessly for that one good person is tiring and not worth the effort if it happens it happens but i cant hold out hope because that is too damaging for me. I know you have to keep a positive look on these things I get it its your job but please dont tell me to trust it because i cant.

sorry to everyone else on this thread i dont mean to bring my drama into it but that stuff really hurts and it is upsetting for me to be told to just try again because i have given them too many chances and the system just isnt for me so please @Former-Member dont say that sort of thing to me again.