After the chaos that surrounded the last appointment I was supposed to have with my care coordinator I was reassured to find her at the correct location this week! I was pleasantly surprised. She started by apologising and I sympathised with her as the system is mostly to blame for the amount of travelling that she has to do.
I really like her style! This might sound peculiar however she really gets how everyone is different and therefore is affected differently by mental health
Illnesses. She also doesn’t go through a rigorous checklist of assessment questions which I find makes conversation harder and instead talks openly with me, dropping questions into the conversation or picking up on things I say in order to ensure that she covers all the important and necessary areas. She lets me talk but does her job and as much as I hate a checklist I understand the importance of assessing and watching for signs.
We talked about how evenings are difficult for me and instead of telling me what to do we talked about options and she suggested things that might help. She had also got in touch with my previous therapist who is retiring soon and has asked her along to my next appointment which I was so pleased about. I thought it was very sensible for a care coordinator who has known me for 3 months to ask the professional who knows me best to see me. I was really grateful for this and this is taking place at the end of February.
After that appointment I will have 1 one more in March and then I will be discharged from mental health services back to the care of my GP. It is very frustrating and frightening not to be in a longer term care team and actually it is something that at the moment I am trying to push out of mind. My family however are concerned. My husband, family and close friends saw for themselves the immense struggle and distress I faced last October/November and are scared for me that this will happen again. They provided that 24 hour care without any professionals on board for almost 3 weeks. How many times will this have to happen?