"crisis team"

My experience when I have challenged mental health professionals over their lack of care and/or professionalism is that they consistently tell me my perceptions are skewed by my illness or add another label to my diagnosis. There is no sense that I can be viewed a credible witness to my own experiences. People seemingly close ranks and bad practice is defended because the reality is the funding and the will to create a good service is I am told simply not there.

I am afraid of making any formal complaint for fear of being further pathologised and disempowered. In all truth these complaints about crisis teams are widespread throughout Britain and supported by independent research, but no adaptations have been made as a consequence. Is there any protection afforded to the complainant or would I be opening myself to further criticism and disempowerment for nothing?

I have been told when I have complained about the impact of government cuts in mental health support, for example, that I am only perceiving the system as bad because I was brought up in an abusive family system. I am afraid of what seems to be the Stalinist approach to dissent within the mental health system and that there is no interest in creating a good system per se. Rather they only seem interested in finding ways to execute further government agendas of efficiencies by taking people out of the mental health system and denying them benefits or care.

In brief I am afraid of the consequences of making any complaint when in truth I am already so on the edge of committing suicide it wouldn't take much to push me over. Is this a real complaints system or one that is simply going through the motions as a government PR exercise?

Parity of esteem is a term used, but not defined, in the Government’s most recent mental health strategy for England, ‘No health without mental health’. Building on the RCPsych definition, this report considers parity of esteem to mean ‘valuing mental health equally with physical health’. A parity approach to mental health aims to deliver:

• equal access to effective, safe care

• equal efforts to improve the quality of care

• the allocation of resources on a basis commensurate with need

• equal status within healthcare education and practice

• equally high aspirations for service users

• equal status to the measurement of health outcomes

• holistic, integrated care with mental health considered alongside physical health.

Source: Royal College of Psychiatrists (2013) Whole-person care: from rhetoric to reality. Achieving parity between mental and physical health. Occasional paper OP88. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.

It is all rhetoric, targets applicable to getting physical health treatment are not applied to mental health treatment. Cuts not applied to physical health budgets are scathingly applied to mental health budgets. Crisis team budgets have been axed considerably which perhaps goes someway to explain the poor service they offer and the fact that they are not accessible when needed and do little when accessed.

What difference would a complaint from me make???

dear Sam, I am touched by the seeming sincerity of your response and will call you ASAP...many thanks!

After another poor experience calling the crisis team, where there was a total lack of empathy and I was told the crisis team was there for "practical solutions only" and I should call the Samaritans, I did email pals but was met with a standard letter giving me another another number to call etc.

I have lodged my concerns with the community care medical secretary as the duty social worker was busy and I made a point of asking for clarity about the role of the crisis team. I have asked this before but only receive the answer contact us when in a genuine crisis but not when you have overdosed.

I mostly get a sense that they simply don't want to engage with me or my crisis. The usual practical advise is to watch telly! I have not called Sam yet because I am exhausted with the efforts I have made and being met by a wall of indifference is flattening.

I did speak to someone from health watch who seemed really engaged and said they would call me back but never did! I spoke to someone else at the CAB also part of health watch about other issues.

The bureaucracy is seemingly endless and confirming of my lack of faith so far… but I remain open to being proved wrong.

I am amazed at how many people have read this particular post which suggests to me a larger issue is here for a lot of people?

Have spoken to Sam, who was empathetic and is looking into this issue…

I did write and phone Pals but just received a phone call and a standard email telling me to call a different number....(this happened last time I phoned Pals)....And when you have been through a traumatic experience it's not helpful to have to repeat it all within the same organisation! It just feels like being passed from pillar to post!

Thank you for your encouraging thoughts...though...and I get the set up is not your fault....but it does feel designed to put off complaints and discourages further disclosure!

Just to say I had a good experience talking to Sam Holden, I was not referred to a different person or phone number.

I was listened to and the issue/s are being taken up with the people concerned. I have confidence that Sam will get back to me with further information and help me navigate the system as it stands, as well as that changes in the crisis system will be made.

I felt empowered and understood and believed and respected… which is all I ever needed in the first place from my crisis care.

I have written back to Sam regarding the current absence of crisis care. Despite there being a crisis plan in my care plan, my coordinator still does not know who will replace her or when I meet receive support. The duty workers have not returned my calls and the crisis team tell me to call samaritans and samaritans tell me to call someone medical as the extremity of my anxiety is hard for them to cope with!

I am delighted that that there are plans to change crisis care in the future….but I m concerned about surviving now….until the autumn when these changes may take place and the safety net that is supposed to be in place not functioning at all currently……My direct payments are enabling me to purchase some of the support, I am not receiving from statutory services but these are due to be cut as from next week and I have just been told my needs do not need the eligibility criteria for a complex needs assessment despite the fact that this assessment is supposed to be eligible to every one…..and not supposed to take place over the phone! I have contacted Sam about this and via email and hope to hear back from him. It is very helpful to have somewhere to go with these issues as it can feel like you are alone in a Kafkaesque system in an Orwellian universe!

If I did have the courage to try a crisis team again I have found out (re inspection of mental health services last July) in Devon 75% of people thought to be of danger to themselves were sent to spend a night in the cells as opposed to a place of safety in a hospital of elsewhere… So now all trust is finally broken.

A traumatised person feels suicidal because of abuse and trauma, gets locked up in the cells. Surely this should be front page news? There is no "safety" net!

Sam is organising a meeting regarding my difficult experiences with the crisis team.

I am hopeful and very scared but it seems at least an opportunity to give voice to my concerns….I just really hope the meeting is constructive and leads to positive changes in the way the crisis team responds. My hope is for greater empathy and support….and that all the people who phone are treated with dignity and respect and have their crisis taken seriously and are met with compassion.

I am afraid to hope because I think this would require changes in orientation, training and funding and a real willingness to put the service user first….I am not sure that commitment is there but I want to have an open mind and allow myself some hope without setting myself up for disappointment…..At the very least I will stand for the dignity and truth of my own experience and those who have had similar experiences to me. I am afraid the response might be detrimental and punitive and undermining, but I have to risk this….and the dangers for me are far greater in being a passive victim.

I have now had some positive engagement with PALS and Health watch as well as the quality care commission and see that they are working together on this.

I have now at last been allocated a coordinator…I will hopefully have an opportunity to raise my issues regarding the crisis team and the systemic problems I have an encountered! It is scary to complain but sometimes it is the only way to get heard and it may help others and that is comforting and empowering!

I have now had a positive experience with a member of the crisis team, it touched me and I am glad this is possible. I risked because I felt so out of control and scared of myself I felt I had nothing to lose. My complaint is also being investigated.

I am still scared but also hopeful this can be constructive for all concerned.

I am awaiting the date for the meeting regarding all the issues raised here…It is of course always hard to synchronise diaries etc…I am with a lot of fear…I realise I have many question about the crisis team but this is only one component of my experience of mental health care. I see it as mostly failing because of a lack of clarity about what it is there for….My care coordinator said it took him two years to figure out the really good function it has in say getting medication to those who need it to avoid hospitalisation. I need acceptance, connection and assistance in kindling self compassion in order to help me not harm or kill myself….Is there a willingness to provide this generally or only very occasionally? It seems many people want this and don't get it…but not just from the crisis team but from mental health professionals and services in general. I am afraid of being thought foolish at this meeting for wanting what to me seems so obvious, I.e. all mental health services and NHS services generally to treat the people they see with dignity, respect, care and compassion. Am I naive in thinking this should be the priority? It also seems to me that if mental health services especially cant be provided with these qualitative values inherent in their application, then the service is no longer service and therefore it should be acknowledged that service cannot be provided at all…."FIRST DO NO HARM!"

Please wish me well while I anticipate this meeting…..I am finding the anxiety overwhelming at times…yet I am not sure I can bear not to try even if what I have to say is obvious and/or might not make a difference! Life is a risk! Risk is better than dust!