Complaint Against Mh Centre ?

[berenger]

I attend a mental health centre for people with mental health problems. I am due to leave soon as you apparently only get a limited amount of time with them. I accept this as i know services are limited and money is tight.

i am having some problems though. A few years ago i had some trouble with someone and the mh centre know about it. I have since received letters from the mh centre with this person's name as the secretary or whatever. This happened a few years ago. I mentioned it to an independent advocate i was seeing at the time. She offered to look into it. My interpretation was someone was taking the piss out of me by doing this, though i was reminded it was possible the said person actually did work there.

Now yesterday i received a letter from them and the surname was the same as the person i had trouble with, though not the first name. This seems to me too much of a coincidence. Maybe they know that this person is a relation or something, from other sources.

I may be being paranoid, what do people think ?

I was also given some bad advice by this centre which backfired on me, when i confessed i had a crush at a worker i was seeing at an alcohol advice service. I was advised to confess to it but it all went wrong. I recognise that they maybe were trying to help and weren't giving me bad advice on purpose.

I also did a cook and eat group at the centre and was actually told i eat too loudly !. This really upset me and made me feel like a pig or something.

What should i do ?, the name thing especially is bugging me, i've actually gone in the bin and fished the letter out.

[jenny1471]

Hi

I'm sorry to hear the support of the centre is coming to an end. I hear you say that you are ok with the ending, but I wonder whether you are really feeling let down or angry or scared about it. So are maybe projecting your fears and anger in to this..

I personally don't think a professional place would sign a different name at the bottom of a letter. But if its bugging you then maybe you could ask about it? or contact the advocate for help with it? . I guess what I'm saying is that if you want to complain then there is nothing stopping you at all, but I wonder if you're, on some level, trying to make the ending easier for you. Maybe by trying to convince yourself they weren't good for you or something... And I guess by complaining you'd maintain some contact with them post discharge.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, it's really not meant to. If you feel you need to complain or at least give them your feedback on the services you've received then that is totally your right. You could maybe write a feedback letter outlining the good and bad in your experience.. So they could learn from the negative as well as the positive?

Hope you are ok and that you will still receive some support post discharge

Xx

[berenger]

Thanks jenny,

You are very insightful, i think they may be some truth in saying i may be trying to say to myself they are no good anyway or i am trying to prolong contact. I complained about my treatment at an alcohol counselling service and maybe there was ab element of what you say there.I don't want to be a serial complainer just for subconscious reasons like you speak of.

The name thing bugged me at the time and with the name cropping up again this weekend it does bug me. Maybe i hsould raise it informally tomorrow when i am there ?, or is that too confrontational or likely to backfire ?

I am worried about leaving and don't want to cause trouble but i don't like the idea of stuff going on behind my back.

I am a bit worried about group tomorrow. We have to say how we have been doing and i'm nervous about what to say.

[lonelyheartemma]

I can completely understand why the name is worrying you. Maybe it's paranoia, maybe it's not but the thoughts are still very real and disturbing.

You said you asked an advocate to look into it, did you ever get any feedback? Would it be possible to look into it this way again?

This is just an idea I thought of, I have no idea if it is likely to be true or not but I know that organisations like the Samaritans have special names they use when they are working. Is it possible that secretaries have a special name as well? I know it's not quite the same thing but I just wondered.

I do think it is unlikely anyone is trying to take the piss out of you- it is very unprofessional. I know that can happen in one to one meetings where it is impossible to prove what was and wasn't said and that is really terrible but I don't think anyone who did do that would risk putting something on an official document like a letter.