Need advice please (info below).

That's ok @outlander , sorry for tagging you and everyone else who I tagged. I just wanted to include everyone who has been on this thread.

Are you ok? I'm upset and annoyed about it but I'm ok.

I understand you don't have many words. Sorry about tagging you

@outlander I'm so sorry. I hope you're ok and safe. Please take care of yourself (well as much as possible), thinking of you. Sending love and hugs xx

@Former-MemberIt might've been an idea to formally cancel that appointment. Did he have a reception staff you could've called so that you wouldn't need to talk directly to him? If not, then I can understand why you wouldn't have cancelled.

But keep in mind, he's probably governed by all sorts of legal obligations to chase up any patients he has that drop off the radar, too. So it might be a bit optimistic to assume he'll simply go away.

Is there anyone you can talk to, to see if there's a way of formally getting out of this guy's care without you having to have any direct contact with him?

@chibam thanks for your reply and suggestion.

No, he called himself, all of those times. The message he finally left was him. No receptionists called or anyone else, just him. I hope he didn't contact my Psychiatrist today because that would be going behind my back once again, and that would annoy my Psychiatrist and ruin his day. If my Psychiatrist says that in our next session, I'll apologise and say that I didn't know that would happen because it's true.

I did contact the hospital where he works at (my local hospital) & asked if they had anyone else I can see, & tried to explain why, but no one's gotten back to me. This was a few weeks ago. I also can't find any complaint things at the clinic itself or online, they used to have some but now nothing. I know they've had lots of complaints from people receiving care in all parts of the hospital too, and the GP clinic there aswell, over the years.

I understand the legal side of things yes, but he's also doing stuff behind my back, when I never asked him to, such as calling my Psychiatrist, trying to call my GP & the Headspace Centre I went to that he used to work at (I don't think he was there when I went there), & my Mum. & probably other people too.

Who do you suggest about trying to get out of his care, and what do you suggest? I haven't made a complaint yet, I'm still thinking about it. My Psychiatrist said I should and was unhappy about everything i told him.

I didn't call to cancel or turn up because I don't want anything to do with this guy (the nurse). Even if I said that to him or someone else who works there they'd hold it against me. I don't know what to do and I feel so hurt over the whole situation.

PS, I never asked to see this guy. I just emailed the hospital asking what they had for mental health and they just put me in to see this rude Nurse, I never expected any of it. I would've said no otherwise but I thought i'd give it a go. Now I regret every single thing.

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@Former-Member wrote:

PS, I never asked to see this guy. I just emailed the hospital asking what they had for mental health and they just put me in to see this rude Nurse, I never expected any of it. I would've said no otherwise but I thought i'd give it a go. Now I regret every single thing.

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Damn, I can relate to that. That's basically the same story I had with my nightmare therapist.

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@Former-Member wrote:

Who do you suggest about trying to get out of his care, and what do you suggest? I haven't made a complaint yet, I'm still thinking about it. My Psychiatrist said I should and was unhappy about everything i told him.

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I'm probably not the best person to offer advice. I don't know anything about MH Nurses or the protocols surrounding them. What you really need is someone familiar with the health system beaurocracy and how to plow through it. Could your GP be of assistance? If not, then you mention that Headspace is/was involved in your case. Could you talk to their reception team about severing ties with this guy? Even if they don't directly work with this guy anymore, they might be familiar with the beaurocratic chanels you need to go through to get this guy off your case.

I was really lucky with my therapist; she said that I was cured and so I didn't need to see her anymore. If she hadn't done that, I'd probably still be stuck with her.

From what you've said, it sounds like the hospital itself is being very negligent. You've tried to contact them directly to resolve your situation and they still haven't gotten back to you? That's terrible! Although with the added stresses that coronavirus has put upon them, I suppose this is understandable. Under normal circumstances, it would be appalling.

I've just done a quick Google search about getting out of mental healthcare and, unfortunately, I couldn't find anything that really seems apt for your situation.

I wish I could be of more help. Sorry.

@chibam I'm sorry that you relate to what I wrote and that you had a bad experience. No one deserves to have a bad experience in any part of healthcare let alone mental health. It's a disgrace.

No worries about not being able to help, I do understand. I appreciate you replying and trying to help and just being there for me to vent and listening, so thank you, it really does mean a lot. I'll do my best to support you and anyone on this forum too, as much as I can. I'm not the best with helping but I do try.

Well, my GP is useless. I'd like to get another one but I would rather meet them in person but they're not allowing people to go to the clinic unless you need a check up (so for instance tests). Understandable though. My GP just says "speak to your Psychiatrist, get him to prescribe the meds for you. Look on Google." just useless stuff really. I mean she's nice but not helpful at all really. Doesn't even know the area much and whats around for mental health etc. So no, she probably couldn't help.

My Psychiatrist is in NSW so it's a bit difficult for him, sort of. Headspace probably deleted me off their file and to be honest I hope they did. Basically what happened there is last year or the year before, I went there for an 8 week group (I have no idea what it was for, I didn't get a single thing out of it), and then they put me in with a Psychologist there. I enjoyed it for about 2 sessions, then everyone just turned against me - staff, manager, group members, and made fun of my mental illnesses, and just hated me. I was polite to everyone and tried to explain my mental health issues, and tried to have a positive attitude each week. I walked out and slammed the door I don't know how many times after i was treated at Headspace. No one was nice to me there at all despite how nice I was to them. Yes I made a complaint about that and got the outcome I was looking for.

I'm sorry your therapist said that to you, that sucks. I hope you find someone who is supportive and treats you with respect, the way you should be treated, a professional.

Well yes that's true with the virus stuff and this hospital, but it seems like they've just deleted all the complaint stuff off the website and there's not even any machines (like an iPad) to do it anymore, or even paper forms. Ridiculous.

Thank you for looking on Google though, I appreciate that too. Sorry for my lengthy, confusing rants. I appreciate your support and being there, it does mean a lot, so thank you. I'm here for you too.

Good idea, I guess I could try that, thanks. I replied to your thread by the way @Blep

@Former-Member Yes. It was mod-deleted because I went on a bit of a rant about a public figure, which goes against the forum guidelines, as it turns out. Here's most of the original post, with the offending bit chopped out. :

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@Former-Member wrote:

Well yes that's true with the virus stuff and this hospital, but it seems like they've just deleted all the complaint stuff off the website and there's not even any machines (like an iPad) to do it anymore, or even paper forms. Ridiculous.

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Well, as I think I said in a previous post, my view would be that the subject of whether to and how to make a complaint is a "tomorrow" problem. Today's problem would seem to be simply getting yourself out of this guy's care.

Normally, I would think that the best way to do that would be to deal directly with the admin dept. of the hospital that manages the guy. But as you say, you've tried that and they haven't replied to you. It might be worth placing a second call in and just reminding them that you have an unresolved inquiry that hasn't been addressed in several weeks. If you do, it might also be worth your while not mentioning that you wish to make a complaint, as this may provoke a hostile attitude towards you. Simply tell them that you wish to be taken off this nurse's patient roster and sever all future contact with him.

If you really can't get any help from the hospital itself, then the only other thing I might be able to suggest is to contact a mental patient advocacy group like VMIAC (www.vmiac.org.au, for Victorians), Being (being.org.au , for NSW), or WA Consumers of Mental Health (www.comhwa.org.au , for WA). Even if none of those are your state, they may still be able to give you guidance on how to get yourself out of this guy's "care", or refer you to some org that is better placed to help you with that problem. They may even be able to offer you some advice on how to make a complaint, if you still wish to go down that road. Though once again, keep in mind that their likely bogged down due to coronavirus, so you mightn't get an immediate response.

On the subject of making a complaint, I did find this page, which may be of interest to you: https://cchr.org.au/where-to-lodge-complaints-about-psychiatrists-psychiatric-hospitals-and-other-mental-health-workers.

You may also be interested in making a submission to the currant royal inquiry into abuse, ect. of disabled people (here at:https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/share-your-story ). I was surprised to learn that the inquiry classifies anyone who finds themselves in need of the services of the mental health system as "disabled". So even if you aren't disabled in the traditional sense, they may still be interested in hearing about your ordeal with this guy.

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@Former-Member wrote:

Headspace probably deleted me off their file and to be honest I hope they did. Basically what happened there is last year or the year before, I went there for an 8 week group (I have no idea what it was for, I didn't get a single thing out of it), and then they put me in with a Psychologist there. I enjoyed it for about 2 sessions, then everyone just turned against me - staff, manager, group members, and made fun of my mental illnesses, and just hated me. I was polite to everyone and tried to explain my mental health issues, and tried to have a positive attitude each week. I walked out and slammed the door I don't know how many times after i was treated at Headspace. No one was nice to me there at all despite how nice I was to them. Yes I made a complaint about that and got the outcome I was looking for.

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Your impression is typical of what I hear about Headspace. I'm told that in the general community, it's typically referred to as "WasteOfSpace" because the unspoken truth is that it almost never does anyone any good.

It seems that you are having a great deal of trouble finding people who are respectful to your situation. Headspace, your GP, this nurse... they all seem to be very disrespectful towards you and your condition. Could it be worth your while looking into how you might find someone who specializes in your particular situation? It sounds like mainstream care may not be adequately equipped to handle your needs. Not that this is surprising (the system is terrible through-and-through, IMHO), but I'm just thinking that you might have better luck if you seek out more specialized care.

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@Former-Member wrote:

I'm sorry your therapist said that to you, that sucks. I hope you find someone who is supportive and treats you with respect, the way you should be treated, a professional.

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I'm not! That diagnosis (that I was "cured") was my ticket out of her horrible care! I may be sorry for dozens of the things she said to me in treatment (many of them still have me messed up), but her BS pronouncement that I was "cured" was not one of them. That was liberation.

I'm never going back to therapy. After my 7-year long nightmare with that woman... I just can't risk straying back into another ordeal like that. I can't take any more of that sort of punishment, and I certainly can't take the very real risk that the nightmare might last even longer, or be significantly worse then what I've already endured.

When you tell people what you've been through they just keep saying: "go back into therapy, go back into therapy... you mightn't get a good therapist at first but eventually you'll find one", as if the horror stories in mental healthcare don't exist, or are just a trifle. But therapists destroy people! They ruin lives, and yes, sometimes it really is beyond all hope of recovery despite all the cheap, baseless, platitudes you might hear to the contrary!

The therapy industry is a real minefield, with real and abundant risks, and real and abundant horror stories. And the cold truth is that, under reasonable risk/reward analysis, a great many people are better off staying put and waiting for Father Time's gentle release then they are in subjecting themselves to the heartless cruelty of Dr. Mengele's laboratory of horrors. It's not a myth. It's real, and it's all too common.

Apologies for the rant, @Former-Member. It's not really directed at you. It's directed at the multitude of people I've encountered over the years who speak as if my past experiance has little or no relevance towards the matter of whether or not I should seek out more therapy.

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@Former-Member wrote:

Sorry for my lengthy, confusing rants. I appreciate your support and being there, it does mean a lot, so thank you. I'm here for you too.

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That's okay. These are lengthy, confusing dillemmas we find ourselves in, so lengthy, confusing rants seem quite apt.

I hope things work you for you with this nurse.