Getting Therapy On Nhs

[Heaven666]

Hello

Anybody here has experience on getting mental help on NHS (Britain)? I am helping a girl suffering from PTSD caused by child rape and by growing up in a culture comparable to Afghanistan. I know that the GP can refer her to a mental health nurse and she will refer her to an appropriate therapist, but I wish to know if anyone passed through that procedure.

 

[amethist]

Hi

My husband has been though the NHS system and it is slow at best. He waited for almost a year the first time and this time it has been 7 months so far.

The problem is that there are not enough PTSD trained therapist to go around. some areas have a few some have none at all.

Then there is the issue of hoping that the therapist is the right fit for you.

Emergency care again is the luck of the draw, some places are good, some are a waste of time.

I wish you well with it, and hope you manage to work through the system relatively easily.

The GP is definitely the first stop, hoping they will refer her to your local mental health team for assessment.

 

[Ice_Fire]

Hi,

I'm going through the motions of that at the moment. As Amethist said, it's slow. It's over a year since I first went to see my GP and they are just now referring me to a Psychiatrist. Lord alone knows when the assessment will take place and to be honest, I'll probably have gone off to university before then and have to go through all the hoops again. As far as therapy goes, I again echo what Amethist said: there aren't enough specialist PTSD therapists.

Sorry to be so bleak, but that's my experience. Get her to her GP anyway, just to get the ball rolling and have her 'on the radar' but...it'll be slow at best.

Have you thought of looking into charity based counselling for her? Mind are great, that's who I'm with for therapy...but again, often they're not PTSD specialists.

 

[Heaven666]

Charity based counselling? What's that?

 

[Ice_Fire]

There are multiple mental health charities that offer counselling, often for free. There are national ones such as Mind, who support people mainly with depression and anxiety issues, and can offer straight forward talk therapies as well as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which is used for a range od issues including PTSD.

Also, it may be worth checking out more local charities and self-referral counselling places. An example from my area is Savannah, a charity that offers counselling for sexual assault survivors.

 

[Hashi]

There are details here of some charities which offer counselling for survivors of rape:
http://pandys.org/forums/index.php?showforum=45

I had counselling at a RASASC (rape and sexual abuse support centre) - if you google "RASASC" and the city/area you can see if there's one in that location. Mine was whatever you could pay, free if you couldn't pay. It was time limited (one year) without the possibility of continuing to see your therapist after that. In my case, that ended up being difficult, but it was still worth it. Different RASASCs and different charities each have their own policies.

The NHS in my area couldn't offer me counselling at all, they had no resources. In the end, I was glad because the NHS can be very focussed on cognitive behavioural therapy and exposure therapy, neither of which would have suited me personally, although there are people who are helped by them. The counsellors at the RASASC were all trauma specialists, as well.

 

[Heaven666]

Thanks, mate.

 

[Lucycat]

Heaven, does your friend have good English to be able to deal with therapy? I am just thinking that it would be very difficult. I cannot imagine trying to do it in a foreign language.

 

[Heaven666]

Not much, but she's getting better fast. English is an easy language for us. She will spend the first months setting herself up, making herself comfortable and safe, making new friends and connection. She had some bad experience with incompetent and abusive therapists in the motherland, so she is not much eager to start getting therapy right away.

 

[Heaven666]

UPDATE: she's getting better day by day. Just the fact to be away from that hellish place and that hellish culture is making her feel much better, she changed her outlook and behaviour immensely. She's starting an English course, to start working in a month or two. Given the tremendous improvements and her (and my) general distrust toward therapists she decided to not look for therapy on NHS, and to just take some drops of Lorazepam when suffering from insomnia. Any advice about that?

 

[silk123]

I really wouldn't bother, it does more harm than good.
1st person I was sent to- can't help you it would be too dangerous (fair enough)
A 18 month wait to see the 2nd person who was fantastic but then after numerous months went on the sick for 9 months and then called me to say she was back :) At the 1st appointment back she told me she was leaving. The following day I had a scheduled appointment with my Psychiatrist who told me he was leaving as well.
Luckily I asked my fantastic T for a private referral and it was in a different county but it has ..well up to now (2yrs)...has worked out great. It sucks having to pay but the stability is well worth it.
I had a severe panic attack that landed me in A and E as I lost the use of my legs for 7 hours and I got sent to the old NHS place who said my old T could see me but for only 12 sessions...hold on I thought she had left????? I went along with it as I was so grateful to be able to see her again-I think I was overly attached- I was called in again to be told that I shouldn't have been told I could see her for 12 sessions as I can't. Ok great.
The cost is a gutter but skip the NHS, even my GP doesn't want me anywhere near the NHS Psychological Services.

 

[Hashi]

@silk123 I think a very, very small number of people are lucky with the NHS and the rest are batted around a messed up, unhelpful and even damaging system like you were. I'm glad you've got a good private therapist, but sympathise on how hard the cost is.

even my GP doesn't want me anywhere near the NHS Psychological Services.

Even my NHS GP is beyond dreadful! I don't want to be anywhere near her.