Tuesday 2 February 2016

End of the Line?

I think I have reached the limit of what our system and indeed our society can offer. Speaking with a CMHT nurse yielded nothing; they are only prepared to get involved if you are about to throw yourself under a bus - or someone else. The GP just doesn't get it at all; it's one step forward and two steps back. One time they seem to understand, the next they do not and it's as if you were talking to someone else entirely. All she can recommend it seems is the same old groups and organisations, completely ignoring the fact that these people do not offer what she thinks they do or that I have dealt with them before.

Clearly GP's and the like are given a sales pitch from these people as to how they can help, when in reality that's not what they actually do. But what can you expect from those that align themselves with corporate filth like ATOS?

I have been told to go back and speak to the likes of Friend, a drop in centre largely run by volunteers (with all their faults - including not being very welcoming and racist). They have rebranded themselves to be called '1in4', though I imagine the same people work there. I notice they offer such evidence based and efficacious therapies as Reiki and Reflexology. That dpesn't inspire confidence. Not least of all, visiting them involeves expensive bus travel.

The other alternatives follow the same lines. There is a place in town called the Carlton Centre which offers courses in 'life skills', which is going to be similar to the CBT approach that's all the GP can offer. Again it costs to travel, and there's a course fee. Unfortunately the courses aren't running at the moment. Whether any of these schemes or places offer anything that has long term practical value I do not knpow. My feeling is sceptical; these places are never geared that way and so when you explain the difficulties you have, particularly in respect of the DWP/employment, they wilt. They have nothing to offer in that area.

This I think is what needs to change. Unfortunately the best the government has to offer is the Work Programme, which they think does exactly this. We all know it doesn't, my experience of that on this blog proves this.

We shouldn't need governments to provide these solutions, and part of this is because we know they don't. The Work Programme serves the wishes of the likes of the CBI, not the individual. The lack of a holistic approach that allows individuals the freedom to explore not just how they can heal themselves in a world gone mad, but the freedom to explore what they can do in society. Capitalism curtails this dramatically, limiting people to whatever the capitalists want, often according to the aspirations they programme and the demand they manufacture in people. Jobs are only created when there is demand for the commodity involved, and we have no say in what we want.

2 comments:

  1. The Carlton Centre - Keep away unless you want to be patronised to within one inch of your life. They run courses for people with little in the way of functional literacy and infantile wastes of time such as courses in "buying your own food"

    Really, steer well clear.

    Yep the same bunch of patronising, parasitic bullies still work at 1 in 4 People (ridiculous name and no evidence to back up the 1 in 4 statistic)





    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The GP said to me that the people she's recommended to the Carlton Centre have had the most success. Currentlythey offer Life Skills (i don't know what that contains), something called Relax and Chill, which seems to require group interaction (i don't want to just share with people i don't know). They also offer Mindfulness. I am interested in that as people say it's quite good (as long as the Buddhist woo is left at the door), but it's a 5 session course and I suspect it will just be pretty superficial.

      Unfortunately waht the GP fails to realise, everytime, is that it costs a fortune travelling to these places, and what they offer isn't free.

      I suspect that changing the name of Friend is meaningless since, IME, it's largely member-driven. So if the people attending aren't very nice people (personal problems aside), then it's going to be a crap experience.

      Unfortunately it seems very easy to run these sorts of places by offering a minimal almost hands off approach. This is the attitude these days; rather than accept the system is to blame, we victim blame instead.

      Also unfrotuantely, these are the only choices available and I'm at the end of the line. There is nothing else. Noone has anything to offer and it's very frustrating.

      Delete

I'm Back!

Years and years ago, before anyone had ever heard of disease and pandemics, I started this blog. I gave it a stupid name from an Alan Partri...