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Contacted By A Mental Health Social Worker Today


successful_workthru

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I am not with the mental health team at the moment, but a mh social worker contacted me today and I don't know why.

I think it might be because I am a service user of a charity who help vulnerable adults (not mental health orientated) and during a recent review to see if I was still eligible for support, I told them that I had been practicing with a ligature.

I am really nervous of seeing this social worker, because I used to have a mental health social worker who was very harsh and co-erced me into taking medication. At the time, on her advice, (the psychiatrist had previously said, also) I should increase my quetiapine, which I did and had a horrible reaction, my legs would fill up with water, making walking very limited and painful towards the evening time.

I also take unprescribed painkillers when I need to go out, because they damp down the bad feelings stopping me going out. I dont take them to get high, just to function, and I am scared that this new social worker will make me take more meds or tell me I am not getting out enough.

Getting out and about is encouraged a lot by mental health teams and support agencies but it doesn't always help and sometimes makes me feel worse.

thanks

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hi successful_workthru

i hope its ok to post here

here's a cut and paste bits of something i've just posted on another thread (just being honest)

about trusting professionals and how i used to just hand it over without thinking if it was appropriate to do so

which i hope is useful

it took me a while to recognise that handing over my trust and acceptance is what i've always done
... i'm naive and gullible to embarrassing levels...
but ive built up this resilience where they now have to earn my trust
it needs to be actively focused on for me for it to work
but using a 'they need to earn my trust and prove they want to be supportive' mantra
i feel less personally susceptible to their limited resource/poor attitude stuff if it crops up

so i hope you find a way of resisting sharing your stuff

until this person has proven themselves to be trustworthy

and wants to be supportive to you

rather than gathering information and box ticking

it pays to be pleasant and appreciative but not at the cost of giving them the information they need

to do things that you know don't work

so until you know they will actually listen,

they have the smarts to connect the dots,

and make it clear they accept your experience of suggestions and/or meds

it can serve as a mutual sounding out thing

again, i hope this is useful and i don't want it to be disruptive or sabotaging of support for you

just for you to have this to add to your thinking

i hope it goes really well for you

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Hi SW

hope your feeling ok today,

have you heard anything more yet?

here if you need someone to chat to.

*hugs*

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi

Hope it's ok to post here.

Thank you for all your support.

I just want to write about the lady that came here yesterday, mentioned above.

My support will be getting cut but that's not her fault.

I got a bad feeling when I met the woman though.

I got the feeling that she does not really care about people, and she cares more about getting to the top in her job.

There are a lot of staff who work in the support services who do not really care about people.

These are the types who don't batter an eyelid when you say you are suicidal.

They spout off all the buzz words and offer you meaningless and useless things to help yourself.

Things that you have tried which don't work.

Their voices drone on, and you can tell there isn't that caring spark in these sorts of people.

That women is only one of many staff who are like this.

I just wanted her to leave to be honest.

It made me feel pessimistic about getting any support because I would not want one of these people in charge of my support.

I have had these people in charge of my support before and I just felt more alone.

I know there aren't many resources, but some staff show compassion and say things like "It must be really difficult for you" and stuff like "that's really awful you must feel so......" etc

Anyway, I just thought i would share and it would be interesting to hear what other people say about staff supporting them, staff who are more interested in their job than the people they are caring for.

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  • 2 weeks later...

sorry i didn't see this thread sooner

my support has been cut as well so your not the only one who's suffering because of government cuts.

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