I have tried so hard to get help to improve my life but help does NOT exist

[FireFox]

I am so sick and tired of people saying "there is help out there" and "you just need to reach out". I have reached out and I find there is NO help out there whether its the UK health care system, the benefits system or any other support system in this country

● I have tried in the past to get help on the NHS but I did not get anywhere because I struggled to get a successful referall. I live in an area where my local mental health services have gotten a series of poor public reviews online. The complaints are mainly about difficulties in accessing the services and staff behaviour not being professional and appropriate. After that I gave up all together. Here is my experiences with the NHS.

I tried getting help for my depression and anxiety at 21 and I got no help from the NHS

At 21 years old when I was at university my depression and anxiety started after my 21st birthday. I tried to get help. When I went to a GP the GP was lovely and she made a referral for me to IPAT which is a NHS therapy service to help people with anxiety and depression. I was told they will get...

sanctioned-suicide.net

● I am currently unemployed and claim universal credit. I attend my jobcentre appointments, I make the effort to develop my skills by going on the course providers that work with the jobcentre, I go to my job interviews and make the effort to look for work but all the jobcentre does is give me so much stress and don't even help me look for work. I have had different work coaches who have all been unhelpful. I had a work coach who doesn't know how to do a CV and this man later on was given a new job in the jobcentre helping over 50s find work, he is in his 30s. When I asked my current job coach about which jobs in the local area that are available he said he didn't know as the jobcentre don't receive that information. 2 weeks ago I had a meeting with a different work coach because my mine was not in and she told me to use YouTube to help me in my job search. I have had other work coaches be so patronising and snobby. The work coaches and jobcentre keep moving goal posts is not fair.

The DWP right now are giving me so much stress. I have been claiming for over a year now the DWP want me to upload firstly a picture of myself holding my photo ID and then upload another picture of my photo ID with all 4 corners showing. Then the DWP want to see 4 months of bank statements. Its called a Universal Credit review.

I sent off this information then a staff member from DWP claims review team have contacted me rejecting ALL my documents for not being clear enough to thier liking. I have uploaded them again I am terrified they are going to reject them again.

The staff member has made it so hard for me contact them and doesn't bother to help me. I can't reply to their messages and have to send a new journal message to then and they take days to respond properly.

I don't want to claim universal credit anymore because jobcentre and DWP give me so much stress with NO real help.

I am so mad at the interviewers for not giving me the job because I would have been spared all this stress. I really wanted that job, eager to learn but no it was never enough, its never enough for employers.
I wanted to really improve my life but I am just sick and tired of nothing ever working out properly and not being supported. There is a no help out there.

 

[Undeadbird]

The UK NHS has near enough given up on mentally ill people, your chances are slim to none of seeing someone. I've been trying to for several years to see someone and my doctor won't even put me on the waiting list because I didn't express to her that I have a plan (to commit suicide). It's been long enough now that I do, and I have given up on the NHS, I saw them for a long time as a child and antidepressants are completely fucking useless, they are shitty temporary fix that over time only make you feel more alone. CBT was the only thing that really helped me but I'm not ever going to get that again as an adult. You might as well say goodbye to the UK if you want any help with your mental health.

 

[iloverachel]

I am sorry you were unable to get the right help you need.

It truly is hard to get help. I gave up on getting any help from professional mental health related services. In my personal experience, they just seemed more interested in my wallet and how they can milk the most money out of me.

 

[FireFox]

The UK NHS has near enough given up on mentally ill people, your chances are slim to none of seeing someone. I've been trying to for several years to see someone and my doctor won't even put me on the waiting list because I didn't express to her that I have a plan (to commit suicide). It's been long enough now that I do, and I have given up on the NHS, I saw them for a long time as a child and antidepressants are completely fucking useless, they are shitty temporary fix that over time only make you feel more alone. CBT was the only thing that really helped me but I'm not ever going to get that again as an adult. You might as well say goodbye to the UK if you want any help with your mental health.

@Undeadbird The UK is generally becoming a more mentally stressful society to live in and our politicians do not help in participating in US style culture wars.

No Mrs Badenoch people don't care about pronouns or gender neutral toliets or "War On Woke" Brits want higher salaries, better job security, funded public services and a better standard of living.

This is why Brits are now moving to Australia. Better weather, highr salaries and less stressful society to live in.

I am sorry you were unable to get the right help you need.

It truly is hard to get help. I gave up on getting any help from professional mental health related services. In my personal experience, they just seemed more interested in my wallet and how they can milk the most money out of me.

@iloverachel Therapy is supposed to be therapeutic tool in helping people but it is now becoming a business which is just wrong morally and ethically.

 

[Disappointered]

sadly correct: humans never truly help the downtrodden among them as humans are intrinsically shit. there has never been real help and there never will be. the best and most honest version of help will be when the losers in the game of life can be brought to suicide in a peaceful, anxiety-free state of mind.

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

I am so sorry that you are still going through such frustrating bs with NHS and other public services, it is really a shame, especially as like you say there's so many culture wars, misunderstanding about mental pain, as well as scorn towards those who go on benefits and require them in order to survive, and many of society's most vulnerable who need a helping hand the most.

I have heard Jobcenter and DWP in general are notoriously bad, what you've described doesn't surprise me. Such services are really not up to date with the modern times and difficulties of job hunting, nor do they seem to realize the sheer level of competition taking place for even entry level jobs. Even part time roles I applied to before sometimes had 200-600 people vying for one or two open positions, and I learned very quickly that employers never consider who actually NEEDS a job the most, rather they take into account who is perceived to be the biggest asset to their company.

Rather than fooling with them, honestly I would reccomend looking at jobs that specifically say they are open to hiring those with disabilities and long term health problems, who have signed onto government schemes and have agreed to give more equal opportunities to those who are often discriminated against in the hiring process. There is a list of conditions that qualify for it online, but I'm pretty sure you would fall under that umbrella by having long-term health problems.

There's no excuse for them or NHS staff either to be rude or snobby to you, but unfortunately it seems like a lot of people in helping professions don't actually want to help or are burnt out with their duties so they take out their frustrations with their jobs on patients and clients who have done nothing wrong. You've also probably seen the signs everywhere about how abuse of staff (what they mean is rude language/arguing) won't be tolerated, but where is the protection for the person using the service who can be spoken down to by doctors, receptionists etc however they like, sometimes in extremely nasty ways.

A lot of the training for MH workers in the UK especially those who started a long time ago is pretty bad. Though I don't necessarily believe that empathy and compassion can be learned on a course, it's so easy to show some tact and not shame someone or put them down when they have come to you in a vulnerable, pained state. I think a lot of the people who did actually care about patients in the NHS left a long time ago to go to places like Australia where they will get paid more, or took on support roles in the private sector where they don't have as much responsibility. When you lose the cream of the crop and those who are passionate about their work, all you're left with is mediocrity.

A lot of expert or peer lead charities run by people who actually have experience with struggling also lost a ton of funding, which guts what services are actually available even further. Despite more money supposedly being invested towards mental health, I feel like this money is not being spent wisely especially when so many people on this forum beg for help multiple times only to receive nothing. That is a clear sign of a failing system.

Also, so much research money is wasted on absolute garbage rather than developing treatments or services to actually help those in need. Today I saw an ad for a study about how "religion based meditation" can positively impact wellbeing and mental health. Mindfulness and meditation is already HEAVILY pushed as a quick fix by MH services, I'm not sure we need yet another study looking into this when these techniques are already massively promoted to everyone and their dog no matter what their problem is.

Whenever you have people out there with severe suicidal ideation, anhedonia, PTSD and complex trauma, autism, BPD, bipolar, schizoaffective disorders, and other complex issues who are given SSRIs and nothing else forever, there is clearly a huge gap in the knowledge base that should be studied rather than wasting valuable research money on slightly reworded mindfulness coping technique #372819. Instead, it feels like mental health services are geared towards the worried well rather than actually mentally ill people.