My Mental Health Years:

Over the past thirty plus years I have worked in a variety of therapeutic roles with many people with varying degrees of mental ill health, from stress and anxiety, mild, low-mood to the deepest black hole of severe depression and suicidal thoughts; within a residential community, Social Services and the National Health Service and continue in my private counselling practise.  I use an integrative model, depending on the client though favour a psychodynamic approach, that is, making the unconscious, conscious, as so much of who we are today stems from our early, often repressed, suppressed, formative years.  Am currently a publicly elected governor with Essex Partnership University NHS Trust.

The residential community I first worked with was, at the time, one of only two of its kind in the country, the other being The Richmond Fellowship who delivered much of our training and supervision.  The aim was to work in innovative ways with residents, ‘community members’.

I was new to residential and no doubt naive having been thrown in the deep end but I could see that a number of staff appeared to have more ‘issues’ than the residents.  My ‘supervisor’ was a trained nurse though had not worked in that role for several years and had no mental health training.  Never-the-less I learnt a lot in my three years with them and have some fond memories of both staff and community members.

(All names have been changed.)

Leah:

We worked together in my role as Family Group Conference Facilitator Mental Health.  Leah had attempted suicide several times.  An intelligent woman who had been teaching in Higher Education until she became unwell.

Leah had developed compulsive disorders and was also becoming violent towards her husband.  My role was to meet with her and help her plan her ‘conference’.  I would then contact the family members and friends she had invited and meet with them if they wanted to be involved.

Family Group Conferencing is an invaluable service.  Provides opportunity - and permission - for all participants to put a face to a name, share feelings, suggestions and agree boundaries; providing a framework of security around the service user.  The process also gives opportunity to air the myths around mental illness; for example, ‘suicide attempts or self harm are merely cries for help’.

It was once thought to be the case that if a sufferer speaks about suicide then they would not carry out the act but that is a false theory.  Through my experience I am persuaded that the majority of those who suffer in this way do not want to die, they just cannot carry on living.  Often these very intelligent, gifted sufferers have formed their own diagnosis, prognosis and course of treatment and appear to have made the decision to end their life with a 'sound mind’.  Hard to understand, it almost appears to be a different aspect of mental illness - possibly requiring an independent or additional diagnosis but…I am not a clinician.

Matthew: 

After several months I was relieved to be allocated a new supervisor who was experienced, respectful and supportive of my ways of working and my perspective.  She had been in a team who were trying to work with alternate ways of helping clients who hear ‘voices’.  Examples; to try not to ‘own’ the voices as in, ‘my’ voices and whether responding to ‘voices’, rather than trying to block them out, could be therapeutic.  Matthew wanted to give it a try.

He was in his thirties, visited family most weekends and had said that walking across the field and alongside a lake to the bus station was when his ‘attacks’ were at their worse.  The following Friday evening as usual as he walked he was drawn to the water and the voices began telling him to jump in.  Matthew had explained that the terror of not obeying the voices had been worse than the fear of drowning but this time, instead of trying to block them with his hands over his ears, he replied,

‘No!  I’m going home’.  Then turning to me he said, ‘And I realised it was a load of bollocks.  You know?  What they were saying, if my mate had told me to do that I’d have told him to fuck off!'

He went on to say that it was as if a door had opened and he could choose to step through or stay locked inside.  Of course it was not all plain-sailing but Matthew left the community a few months later a much freer and peaceful man.

Clarissa:

Abused and violated on many levels and who, when I resigned, presented me with a pair of Indian cotton trousers; purples, blues and turquoise which she had bought from a charity shop.  I don’t wear second-hand clothes, repercussions of being a kid and wearing everyone else’s but I did wear those trousers and still do.  That was over 25 years ago.

Alim:

‘You cannot keep birds from flying over your head

but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair’.

One of Alim’s favourite quotations, though he spoke very little, well, in the presence of staff anyway.

In his early twenties, Alim still looked boyish - fragile - slight.  His controlled food intake and exercise regime meant that he walked miles daily so was outside the community setting for many hours at a time.  I'd rather not read case-notes extensively unless of course I need to know of any risks, preferring the person to confide in me if and when they want to though I knew Alim had been abused repeatedly by a paedophile ring before he came to England.  We would often spend our allocated sessions in silence which became easier for me with more practice and I could relax and ‘be’ not ‘do’, more recently known as ‘mindfulness’.  Never-the-less I felt I was letting Alim down, maybe he needed someone more skilled, more experienced than myself?  He offered no response when I told him I was leaving and did not attend my leaving ‘do’.  Several weeks later I received an envelope with a post-mark I recognised.  Inside, a silk painting had been stuck to a piece of folded card with the words, ‘Thank you, I will miss you.’  Inside they continued, ‘I was always too frightened to get close to anyone….but I really love you…’  Still brings a lump to my throat.

It was not all success, there was the time when a community member threw a coke bottle at me because I had stood in front of the TV and learning the invaluable lesson of never telling anyone to ‘calm down’ after being drenched with a mug of tea, fortunately only luke warm.

I have developed further ‘tools’ for clients who find it difficult to verbally express their feelings, either due to never being allowed a ‘voice’ or for those who struggle to find the ‘right’ words.  Always their choice of course; we have worked with drawings, dreams, toys, buttons, clothing, stress bucket!

Working with clients is a two way thing.  Not in the counselling sense of ‘projection’ or ‘transference’, more in that if we aim to be really present with our client, we learn things about ourselves also.  Two people may appear to be sitting in silence but there is often cacophony in the room.  It was partly experience gained in that therapeutic community that set me on the path of alternate ways of working.  Although Carl Rogers is always associated with the client centred model, in my opinion, congruence and unconditional, positive regard is essential in all therapeutic relationships and may provide a conducive environment for the deepest revelations.

I was speaking with a company director about my work and he said that even though he is on the board of a mental health committee, he actually finds the topic frightening.  I suspect that most people who work outside the field only consider severe conditions, such as psychosis and schizophrenia as mental illness, when in reality, addiction to alcohol, shopping, food, social media, are also examples of symptoms of mental health imbalance to a greater or lesser degree.

Regardless of background, status, age or gender, mental health is a common denominator and statistics show mental ill health as a growing problem, with anxiety and depression reported as the most prevalent condition.  At a time when funding is being cut from many services this can be a challenge, however promoting mental health awareness does not need to be costly and I feel it is time to add ‘mental health awareness and well-being’ to the school curriculum and encourage larger companies to include mental health awareness in their induction process.

Hopefully adopting these practises will assist with normalising the topic, allowing discussion to be frank and feel less threatening and preventing feelings of isolation.

NHS Failings

The following is a personal example which highlights the lack of NHS staffing, inadequate implementing of procedures and blatant ignorance around how to best meet patients' needs, as well as a refusal to engage with patients families, in particular of those who are very seriously ill, frightened and in pain.

My sister died in Farleigh Hospice on 31 July 2013, after suffering unnecessarily agonising pain and bouts of what I feel was negligence, upon being diagnosed with cancer on April 2013 at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford.

My sister, I’ll refer to her as ‘Janet’, whilst undergoing a common-place surgical operation was unexpectedly and shockingly diagnosed with cancer.

Janet was discharged from hospital - it was agreed that she would receive chemotherapy.  Several weeks passed with no sign of chemo starting.  In constant pain and not being able to keep any food down and literally wasting away before our eyes, on attendance at an assessment appointment at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, on Wednesday 15 May, Janet took her overnight bag and insisted she be admitted.  She was placed on, the then recently opened, Danbury Ward.  Apparently her notes had either been mislaid or she had been overlooked, the reasons for which were not made clear to members of her family.

Sixty-four year old Janet was a positive person, intelligent, caring, humorous and a fighter - a business woman - socially engaging and until this illness was physically building an extension to her house.

I do not know whether this is typical of NHS hospitals but on a daily basis the level of care and treatment of patients on Danbury Ward, Broomfield Hospital, in my opinion, was deplorable.  A few examples:

 * Shortly after admission Janet was placed on a side-ward and we presumed that the intravenous drip, which had been set-up for her, included nutrients, owing to the fact that she could not eat due to pain and sickness.  She was hoping that in this way she would regain her strength thus making her physically more fit for surgery.  It was discovered by chance, that without any discussion with Janet, her partner ‘John’, or her family, the hospital had independently taken the decision to place Janet on what we now know as, ‘The Liverpool Care Plan’ (i.e. no food, nutrients or water by mouth or intravenously).  She and her immediate family were very upset and angry and after they complained, staff began providing food for her - though it was not suitable so her partner and children took more appropriately prepared food into the ward for her.

* Janet had various ‘tests’ and was told that as her cancer was not hormone related she would not have intravenous chemotherapy but would be prescribed medication in the form of a pill; this was impracticable as Janet could not eat due to her pain.  Her autopsy revealed that she did, in fact, have ovarian cancer - which is hormonal.

* Cancer patients on Danbury Ward were being left for over three hours with their medication drip-feeds empty, therefore without pain-killers.

* My sister, in great pain, ‘buzzed’ for a staff member several times but eventually had to struggle out of bed and look for a nurse in order to be given her med.

* This same nurse in the presence of other staff, on a doctor’s ward-round, accused Janet of ‘feeling a bit sorry for herself today’.

* A staff member attempted to take Janet’s blood pressure.  This auxiliary/nurse did not even know how to put the BP sleeve on my sister’s arm - Janet had to tell her it was upside down.  The ‘nurse’ then proceeded to take other patients’ BP but appeared to write nothing on their charts - finally walking away with the pulse monitor still attached to a patient’s finger - almost pulling her out of bed.

*In my presence, another patient, who had previously waited six hours for her pain-killers, asked a senior member of staff (do not know her title) if she would pass on that information to the relevant person so that something could be done about it.

This staff member replied, with words to the effect that, ‘it was nothing to do with her’.

* I made several attempts to speak to the ward sister via telephone but with no success.

* Janet had severe diarrhoea and although, again, had ‘buzzed’ repeatedly for help, finally had to get herself out of bed and to the toilet - could not make it in time, then slipped and fell in her own faeces.  A nurse, on finding her, scolded her for getting out of bed.

* John, very anxious and upset at the poor management of Janet’s pain, pointed out to a nurse that Janet needed her medication before meal times, to help her with the pain related to eating, and that she was not getting her med. until after her meal, so was unable to eat or even attempt to eat anything - plus Janet was becoming panicked by the inevitability of her pain.  John also suggested to the nurse that it would make more sense if priority was given to those in most need, as it was clear that some patients were more comfortable, they were watching TV or eating, so able to wait a little longer for their pain-killers.  The nurse ‘reported’ him to the ward sister, he was reprimanded and nothing changed.  It seems that only one male nurse, I cannot recall his name, he worked nights, used his initiative and prioritised patients.  Janet felt relieved each time she saw he was on duty.

* I telephoned PALS - they were helpful and gave some advice.

On my visit on Thursday 23 May 2013 it was clear that Janet was in excruciating pain, she asked that we did not visit again until her pain was managed.

I phoned Danbury Ward several times after that Thursday, to see how Janet was, also to arrange to see a doctor.  The phone was never answered.

* John, told me that on one occasion Janet phoned him in tears after a doctor said to her, ‘Does your family know how ill you are?’

How irresponsible.  Saying that to her without speaking to one of her family first so we could be there.  It made Janet feel hopeless, plus it implied that her family did not care or visit, which was not the case.

John decided to attend Danbury Ward from 9am and sit and wait until a doctor was available to speak with him about Janet’s care.  He sat and waited, until late afternoon, for two days and it was not until the third day that someone became available.

 Danbury Ward was clearly understaffed, and some staff were unprofessional, obviously not adequately trained and clearly had little respect or concern for the patients.  Examples:

*Staff Hand-Over conducted in public places such as corridors or reception desks.  Visitors and patients were able to overhear the personal details of others.

*I witnessed two female staff members, on the cancer ward, sitting virtually at the foot of my sister’s bed, laughing/flirting with a male member of staff who was standing several yards away, in the corridor.  They were discussing their planned evening out and the menu and how good the food was going to be - within easy earshot of patients.  I find this unprofessional attitude and lack of respect, outrageous.  For staff to be so lacking in empathy and so dismissive of patients’ needs usually means they are not being supported themselves, often due to poor management.

*In the few weeks Janet was in Broomfield she and her bed must have been moved at least five times.  Shunted around like a piece of luggage.

Janet’s family had repeatedly asked that something be done to help her and eventually she was operated on in the hope of relieving her inability to eat without vomiting or suffering pain and for a week or so she was able to take food and keep it down.

On speaking to a more approachable senior staff member, I discovered that staff did not know that Janet and her family had only been aware of her illness for a few weeks and were in a state of shock - let alone trying to come to terms with the fact she was dying.  Either this information is not included in patient’s notes or they are not fully read by staff.

One of my colleagues, who qualified in nursing over thirty years' ago, is infuriated at the decline in basic nursing ability and upset at the reputation this gives competent, professional NHS hospital staff.  She assures me that unqualified and auxiliary staff are being used in many hospitals as they are cheaper - also and quite controversially I imagine, she states that British born and trained staff do not want to work with foreign staff who have not received UK NHS training, many of whom cannot communicate clearly in English.

Whilst I was visiting Janet, a male member of staff - a doctor?  Stood at the end of her bed, trousers frayed at the ankles - shoes with the sole hanging off, attempting to tell her something.  His English pronunciation was so poor I could not understand him and Janet had to ask him several times to repeat it.  We finally understood, he was telling her they ‘could do nothing for her’.

What a way to tell someone they are dying.

The family contacted a private consultant with a view to referring Janet on and requested that a copy of her notes be forwarded to the consultant.  I did not hear this conversation but I am told that Janet’s family were refused copies of notes and informed by Broomfield staff that they would have to go through Broomfield Hospital lawyers.  One of Janet’s family mentioned contacting the media - that seemed to have resolved the p

Janet was discharged, it was clear she was dying, in severe pain and in no fit state to be at home.  Even her local GP was shocked when he saw her condition on discharge.  However, this same NHS GP refused to process a prescription, which the hospital had given Janet, for Paracetamol suppositories, as at twenty-five pound they were ‘too expensive’.  John had to drive all over Essex to find somewhere he could obtain them.  I found Paracetamol suppositories being sold on a medical provisions website for five pound.  On Janet’s discharge from Broomfield, as far as I am aware, no support was in place other than a MacMillan nurse.  No practical help was offered - her family bought her a purpose-built bed and John was her lone-carer until she was re-admitted to Broomfield, then finally discharged to the hospice

 

I do not think the answer lies simply in private care.  I have worked in hospitals as both medical secretary and  mental health therapist.  My experience leads me to the conclusion that whether private or NHS, all staff need a higher level of training, with regular, independent supervision (i.e not by their own line-manager).  All staff also must be able to communicate effectively in English.  But, as I wrote in my letter to Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, if the National Health Service continues to be less about patient care and more about saving money and box-ticking, then sadly, nothing will change.

Sally Roberts: Trial by media....

Attrib: http://sallyrobertsourstory.wordpress.com/sally-roberts-story/

Sally was ridiculed and portrayed as an irresponsible, unstable parent; who was putting her son’s life at risk.

 

You may have already heard about Sally Roberts plea for the National Health Service to use ‘safer alternatives’ to treat her son (Neon’s) brain cancer. But this and many other important factors were never fully explained in the news or interviews reporting the case. Instead,

 

The truth is, Sally was not happy with the treatment (XRAY Radiation) being proposed, which could cause Neon long term damage or even premature death. Because of this, the NHS sought to control the situation by initiating a nationwide police hunt (unbeknown to Sally), to gain custody of her son and obtain a court order to force him to have the treatment. However, the NHS did not expect Sally to publicly challenge their decision. She struggled in Court because her initial lawyer was not equipped to handle the case, therefore Human Rights lawyer – Imran Khan came to her defence on the eleventh hour. The High Court gave Sally a seemingly impossible task to find an acceptable ‘alternative treatment’ proven suitable for childhood brain cancer, within a two week period. In a race against time and against all the odds, this determined and dedicated mother managed to uncover unprecedented evidence on a wide range of ‘safer, less-invasive and painless treatments’ that could not only save but also secure a better quality of life for Neon; yet all were rejected by the NHS and High Court. Sadly, against her wishes, the XRAY Radiation treatment commenced on Thursday 10 January 2013.

 

However, having contacted numerous Health Professionals (around the world) in the field of ‘orthodox and alternative cancer treatments’; Sally was supplied with a wealth of safe & effective treatments, which strengthened the case and left her even more determined to mount a second High Court appeal.

 

One treatment in particular called Proton Beam Therapy (carried out in America), is said to be a less aggressive form of Radiotherapy, non-invasive, painless and causes minimal damage to surrounding tissue. It is considered one of the most precise and advanced orthodox treatments for cancer available today. Yet to her complete surprise, two days before the NHS were due to start treatment, Sally learnt that Proton Beam Therapy was well known to the NHS, who not only funds it but also pays for patients ‘travel & accommodation’ to clinics around the world. Sally was never told, nor was it ever offered to Neon. She also learnt that the NHS was actively making sure the public is kept unaware of this less invasive treatment and service, primarily because it is more expensive than XRAY Radiation. However, this treatment is available not only in America but in China, France and Switzerland. Understandably, Sally would like Neon to receive the Proton Beam Therapy, which would also entail using a milder form of chemotherapy; as well as, alternative natural treatments – to give him a much better chance of long term survival and less overall damage. All in all, Sally was never against orthodox treatments, but simply wanted the opportunity to exercise her right to choose safer and more effective options.

 

It has gradually become clear to Sally that she has been caught in a web of procedures, rather than true unimpeded scientific assessment, of the potential benefits of these approaches… and feels she is fighting bureaucrats, instead of working alongside scientists to evaluate the best choice of treatments, which should produce the most favourable outcome for Neon.

 

Sally says -

“When cancer enters your life, you can never control what the outcome will be, but we should at least be able to control the amount of pain and suffering, especially where children are concerned. As with life, it is the journey and quality of life that is important. As a mother my responsibility is to shield my son from any immediate or potential harm; this is all I have tried to do… and will continue to do.  My ordeal, plus losing custody of Neon was absolutely devastating and unnecessary, however some good has come out of it. It made me have to question, if in 2 weeks whilst under extreme stress and no sleep, I was able to find a wide range of safer & less invasive cancer treatments, why didn’t the NHS and UK Oncologists, who have this information on file, not come forward or support my case? The answer can be found in the ‘1939 Cancer Act’, which even the Court tried to avoid addressing. But how can we successfully beat cancer, if this Act prevents proven safe and effective alternatives from being used, researched, explored, promoted or funded.  I would like to urge everyone to please read about this Act and the horrendous side-effects of XRAY Radiotherapy & Chemotherapy, then consider… what you would do, if you were in my position and Neon was your child?” 
 

In her lone quest, Sally uncovered a huge range of successful cancer treatments which uses *minimum levels of either radiotherapy & chemotherapy plus alternatives, or just alternatives, which she wants to make known to the general public, especially cancer sufferers. With cancer now at pandemic levels; effecting 1 in 2 people; this means the majority of us will face the same dilemma at least once in our lifetime. She also feels it is vital for people to understand, the crucial role the 1939 Cancer Act plays in preventing promising life-saving information reaching the public. The Act was passed solely for the purpose of supporting ‘scientific methodologies’ for experimental cancer drug-treatments and not for research into prevention of the disease. Therefore, the Act specifically prohibits and makes it illegal to promote or advertise any effective natural product or therapy proven to heal, prevent or control cancer. Consequently, only radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery or new trial-drugs are offered to UK sufferers.

 

Sally also learnt that prior to the Act, (73 years ago) cancer was considerably rare; affecting only 1 in 50 people… proving that science is no closer to finding ‘a cure’. Despite the reported huge advances in technology, scientific know-how, annual medical breakthroughs, plus enormous promotions and funds raised for cancer research, nothing has changed to-date, except for the escalation of the disease and increasing deaths. The 1939 Cancer Act ensures that most parents and sufferers are led to believe there is no other choice which is simply not true. Independent scientists, oncologists and doctors have confirmed that more people die from surgery, radiotherapy & chemotherapy than the cancer itself. These frightening facts strengthened her resolve to find the safest, best and most humane treatments for Neon.

 

No doubt Sally’s brave stance and love for Neon will be far reaching. Apart from creating greater public awareness, she will surely make a huge difference to cancer sufferers, by bringing to light safer treatments and encouraging integration within the general healthcare system.

 

Her experience, plus what she has learnt, opens up the Pandora’s Box on cancer in the Medical Institutions, Legal Establishments and the Media; questioning matters of transparency, accountability, vested interests, collusion and corruption.

 

SALLY ROBERTS HAS TWO WEEKS IN WHICH TO HELP NEON GET THE TREATMENT HE NEEDS:

Please donate whatever you can 

http://www.gofundme.com/neonappeal