So that's that.
After 6 months, my 'treatment' at the hands of the appalling Positive Step ends with a phone call (missed, thanks to our shitty network coverage). All I have to show for it is a message that amounts to thanks very much, goodbye.
The guy apparently had a pow wow with my GP wherein they both agreed they had nothing to offer and nowhere to offer it. Sure they can agree that it would be great if someone else could offer help - such as signing off on a bus pass - but neither of them will actually do it themselves because...reasons.
That's that. Cut loose.
I've spent more time waiting for appointments than actually in them.
Not once have I been offered any form of scheme, treatment, method or approach. Not a single thing - though I'm sure they would take great umbrage at that, because that's all these people seem to be good for. Even the talk of social phobia was scotched. This was because I was attending a very casual 7 week creative writing course at the Carlton Centre. The assumption being that because I did so, never mind that I found it difficult and considered not bothering to continue on mutliple occassions, then that isn't an issue or a reason at all in any way shape or form. This is lazy thinking, but it's easy for these 'wellness advisors' and their scandalous employers.
Don't forget Positive Step will be getting funding for this, either from the government or from the EU (or both). They aren't doing this for free. In return, I see nothing from that. I have to pay to attend their courses/sessions unless it's over the phone.
And what does that money buy? No treatment or service of any kind.
But the worst part of it is that none of these people will stand up for you. They agreed, for example, that a bus pass would be really helpful. But when it comes to putting 'their' money where their mouths are...notsomuch.
Again the individual is left to his own devices, abandoned by the system once more. Fortunately it's summer and so the weather is pleasant. Come the winter, this will be a different story. But I doubt there will be anything in place by then, and I doubt the GP will take my side. Given how authority works, it will be assumed that their inability to help me was largely down to my own intransigence. In fact I woudln't be at all surprised if that was the meat of the discussion between 'wellness advisor' and GP. Don't forget that 'Wellness Advisor' doesn't even work for Positive Step - he was subcontracted. Positive Step couldn't even be bothered to do the job themselves - and you're paying for that.
Look up the name "Jack Ellis" (I think that was his name) in local press. It was a few years ago now, but it still shocks me when I think of it. He committed suicide.
ReplyDeleteAt the Coroner's Court, his GP (ironically the designated MH GP for his NHS practice) said "we may not have actually seen Jack, but we all spent a lot of time talking on the phone about him" - sums it up.
Other lives are cheaper than chips to these over paid parasites. He had asked for help many times. The only effort the GP made was to speak to the nurse for his physical health issue, cut his medicines so he only had one weeks supply at a time, so he hoarded his drugs by cutting back his normal doses, which could well have worsened his state of mind.
He was a vulnerable young, single male who was desperately seeking support whilst being bullied half to death. He was explicitly in need of real help, all he got was a punitive response that ironically gave him the motivation to find a means to kill himself.
If you can find the articles, it will show you just how cruel GPs and the shitty non existent MH service can be.
Utter shitcunts, the lot of them.
Another depressing and predictable outcome.
DeleteThe system is a mess. The services available here are dreadful. They aren't really services. Positive Step do nothing, whatsoever, despite being oversubscribed. Meanwhile GP's haven't a clue.
1in4 is hopeless. It's just turn up, sit on a couch, listen to other fucked up people talke about football, make an ignorant slightly racist comment, or talk about the cafe. They all hang around a nearby cafe. It's terrible; no activities or support is on offer except the odd day trip to Bristol.
They aren't all bad people, they are just fucked up people herded inside so they can be kept out of sight and thus out of mind. At best you might be able to indulge in some woo woo therapy (paying a small fortune for some reflexology for example). They had someone doing aromatherapy the other day. I like a nice relaxing scent as much as anyone, but it's not going to address the fundamental causes of mental health in society.
Try their other branch, you can also get bullied by the main centre worker, amidst the everyday racism, sexism and sexual harassment. Not forgetting the bonus of not so covert dealing of street & prescription drugs. All added value eh.
ReplyDeleteDuring Trustee visits, a small herd of middle class, sanctimonious, clueless do-gooders are herded off to a private room where the main centre worker can boast (lie) about all that has been achieved. The Trustees do not come into actual contact with the people using the facility, the very people who provide the backs these fuckers live off of. It is a disgrace.
Watch out for the Trustee Members too, present at both sites. They are service users who are lining themselves up for a place on the Board of Trustees. Running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, just doesn't cover it.
Everyone who uses that place is an unwitting host to these parasites. Not one of them gets any real help to improve their health or life situation.
Stay safe Ghosty.
Really, stay safe.