So on Monday I was discharged from the HTT team knowing that today I had an appointment with my care coordinator in the Short Term Intervention team.
To set the background story I was discharged from MH services last May after being in the system for 15 years. After a crisis last October I was referred back to services but only to the Short Term Intervention Team (SIT Team). It was made very clear to me that this was just until March ( this month) however I hadn’t really been thinking about this having been in crisis again following an episode and only just been well enough to be discharged from the HTT.
on Monday I was apprehensive about being discharged from HTT but I knew that the initial crisis had passed and felt that with the support of my care coordinator and GP I would feel supported – little did I know that the originally plan for discharge from the SIT team was being kept to, despite my recent episode and so I am writing this with absolutely no MH support at all.
I am still in shock and I was not up to challenging this decision and didn’t for a few reasons. Firstly I know that the system has very tight constraints and therefore my care coordinator probably was not able to change the decision that was made today. Secondly I am so paranoid and anxious that I didn’t have the confidence to challenge the decision and Thirdly I really think that because I work they don’t fully understand the crisis that I have experienced and how bipolar affects me day to day so challenging might make things worse.
This all comes back to the fact that the system seems to do everything it can to push people out of long term care and into short term care when they in fact have a long term mental health condition. I acknowledge that I do cope with episodes better than I did and therefore do not need the high level support I once did but I am positive that by keeping me in the system with some consistancy would aid the recovery from episodes and mean I get crisis support quickly and not have to wait for referrals all the time.
From another perspective I feel for my family and friends who have also had the reassurance that I was being supported, monitored cared for 2 days ago but now I am back with my GP and they are also without the support network that they had.
As a governor I understand some of the challenges but the total lack of flexibility shown in my case this week is staggering and I am hoping it won’t have a devastating effect long term.
My Journey through the world of Mental Health 
Unfortunately you seem to have been a victim of this drive for ‘short episodes of treatment’ culture I guess driven by the need to cut costs. My own trust went through a ‘cull’ of patients about a year or so ago. My mental health advocate was swamped with desperate people wondering why they had been dumped and how they were going to cope. In the long run it is counter productive – the patient is put through unnecessary stress and like you say so does the family. I had to fight to regain my support twice but my mental health is worse now than it was because of that. If you have time to read it here’s my story of the last discharge. http://www.tvhiec.org.uk/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/Patient-story-Shared-Decision-Making-Jeans-Story.pdf
I now have huge trust issues as a result of the discharges and am constantly looking for rejection. It has made it difficult to build therapeutic relationships with m h staff
Those of us with mental health problems have enough battles to fight. I wish you all the best.
As the mother of an adult with Borderline personality disorder, I share your frustration. Amongst other things, I contacted my MP who has been a brilliant support; I got in touch with the local press which resulted in a front page article about the Trust’s shameful lack of care. And I threatened to sue if anything happens to her. I would say that this is probably what got results: she was referred to a specialist recovery centre & there seems to be a bed whenever she’s in crisis. But this is not how it should be, I’m very aware of all the other patients I’ve met along the way who do not have anyone to fight their corner. Good luck with your own recovery.