Everyone has different experiences of the crisis team that
varies from area to area. I’ve had experiences with two crisis teams. One better
than the other. My first experience of the crisis team was in the city where I
studied at university. I had been arrested for criminal damage but because I
had also self harmed I was taken to hospital where I was bailed under the agreement
I see the crisis team. After treatment for my self-harm I was sent to the day
ward to wait for the crisis team. I waited from roughly 7-8am until gone 5pm in
the evening. The only reason I didn’t leave was because I didn’t know the way
out of the hospital as I had never been there before. I just sat there all that
time without being offered food or water while being really scared to leave. When
this nurse from the crisis team finally came she asked me a few questions for
about 10 minutes and that was it. I was sent home. My second experience was
back in my hometown after being forced to leave university. I had taken an
overdose and after getting discharged from hospital I saw the crisis team for 2
nights before being discharged from their care after seeing the psychiatrist. It
was a neutral experience really, not particularly helpful but not especially
negative.
My third experience of the crisis
team was back in the city where I studied at university after restarting my degree
the following year. It was absolutely shocking! I went to an appointment with
my student counsellor who was concerned about me. After she couldn’t contact my
CPN she got an emergency GP appointment and took me there herself for the GP to
to phone the crisis team who said they would be in touch within two hours. My counsellor
took me back to the office so she could keep an eye on me and we waited. In the
end she couldn’t wait with me any longer and contacted the crisis team. The
crisis team told my counsellor they were busy and that someone would see me
before 10pm. It was now about 5pm. My counsellor reluctantly sent me home and I
waited at home. I think it was about midnight when they finally came. My GP had
referred me around 3pm.
When they
finally came it was pointless. I think they stayed around 10-15 minutes and
were exceptionally unhelpful. The day after they came again, again only staying
around 15 minutes in which time they laughed and joked with each other and told
me I would feel better if I had a job. I was struggling to manage with
university as it was, so getting a job was the last thing I should/could’ve
done. After this unhelpful and anger provoking experience I told my CPN I would
never see them again. After sometime and me being stubborn in the fact I would
not see the crisis team my CPN at the time made an agreement that in times of
distress I could contact the A&E liaison team (a.k.a the self-harm team)
which operated separately from the crisis team. Their job was to basically see
people in A&E after an episode of self-harm and make the necessary referrals.
I had a much better experiences with them and had built up relationships with
some of the nurses due to my frequent attendance at A&E.
The
following year things got way too much for me. My CPN who I had developed major
attachment issues with was on annual leave. One night my head was such a mess
and the only people available were the crisis team. I phoned them as I was
desperate. What followed was my worst experience of the crisis team. It started
off ok but then they just bluntly started asking really personal and triggering
questions. Questions that were very sensitive and shouldn’t be asked over the phone. I hung up and took it out on
myself. What resulted was my worst ever episode of self harm. I went to
hospital via ambulance and while there had to be looked after by police I was
so messed up mentally. At one point I ended up being restrained by the police
because i was so distressed. I was transferred from hospital to another
hospital with a plastic surgery unit. From there I was admitted informally to a
psychiatric unit. I still rightly or wrongly blame this on the crisis team and
how they handled me that evening. Never in my life will I use the crisis team
in that city again. I still have a strong hate for them over 2 years later.
That
hospital admission lead to me being sectioned for two years. Afterwards I moved
back to my hometown. After being out of hospital a week and a half one of my
CPNs said she wanted me to see the crisis team for extra support. Well now they
had rebranded themselves to the intensive home based treatment team, I still refer
to them as the crisis team because that is what they essentially are. I was
apprehensive to say the least. I was not impressed to start with but their care
became better and in the end I built up a good relationship with two of the
workers over a three-four week period. The other nurses were not brilliant
however and I found their visits pretty pointless and unhelpful.
Again last
week I was referred back to the crisis team. Again my experiences with those
two workers has been good but not with the others. Last Friday when they came
out to see me they told me they would call at 10am the next day. They didn’t and
I ended up being stressed out all day waiting for their call. It finally came
at 4.30ish and when they came out to see me it was pretty pointless. Today I
met with one of the good workers and I had a really positive meeting. I feel
she is the only person that understands me at the moment. I actually wish that she
and the other worker were part of my regular care team.
So experiences
with the crisis team can be good but they can also be disastrously bad. I have
heard so many times from people in different areas of the country of how bad
crisis teams are. They do repeatedly let people down which is really quite bad
as crisis teams are there to help people when they are at their worst and in
most need. Quite often crisis teams can make things worse but on some occasions
they can be helpful. It is all very hit and miss. I guess as a service any
crisis team will never be perfect. I guess it is the nature of their service. What
are your experiences of the crisis team?
Brokenmind
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