`I personally think there is, regarding certain mental health conditions.
I re reffered myself to the local IAPT on Tuesday morning as I have been noticing a few things about my behaviour. Not self harm type beahaviours, not suicidal thoughts but patterns in behaviour such as crying when dealing with confrontation, a shorter fuse, not be able to deal with the unpredictable behaviour of the boy I work with when his parents haven’t given him his ADHD medication. Things like family ties and trying to not get bogged down in our stucture and actually dealing with the fact of my childhood and wanting to move forward from this but in a responsible way. Not just by shutting off and hiding. Not by self harming. Not by pretending everything is rosie.
So what I did was I referred myself, not through the use of my GP (the working relationship has changed a little so I’m just trying to speak with her about physical health but that is another post in itself) but by MYSELF.
Today, I recieved this back:
” Dear Katie ****,
Many thanks for your self-referral to Talk ******.
Unfortunately we are not able to accept your referral forthe following reason(s).
– Due to a diagnosis of a personality disorder
Please contact your GP regarding further support.
Kind regards,
Talk ******“
This message doesn’t even give me the chance to ask for what reason this service thinks it’s accepatable to not allow me to receive help based on 1 on my diagnoses. It states that I have to go to my GP and ask for a refarral.
Why? What good that does achieve to promote independence? What is the reason for not working with people who have Personailty Disorders? Is this stigma?
I wouldn’t mind going private if it wasn’t for the money or the fact that even beginning to look for a therapist is tremendously hard. How does one know if they are being fobbed off? Are they charging you too much or too little? Is safety plans included in the price? Location? Personality clashes? If the fit is right? Where do you find a therapist? How do you know what type of therapy you need?
The list of questions in my head is overwhelming and I don’t quite know where to start which is why the TEXT MESSAGE from the local service is quite so appauling and frustrating.
Has anyone else been on the bad end of this? Tell me your experiences please and any suggestions on what to do next.
Katie's blog on life 