I would like to post a letter I have written to our brilliant public mental health service. I think it is fairly self explanatory. Needless to say I myself was purple with rage after the incident. Writing a letter and then posting it to the public is very therapeutic indeed.
Dear Director of Mental Health Services,
I am writing to express some serious concerns I have arising from my recent contact with mental health services.
On Monday I had a session with a client and developed very serious concerns about his mental health. he had expressed non specific but clear threats to kill himself and to kill others. He left the session early and left in a fury.
As soon as the client left my rooms I telephoned his parents. they explained that the client had had previous contact with police and mental health services. In June of last year his parents had called police because of his violence and they attended. he taken to A&E but left there police. Unsurprisingly he walked out. he returned to his parent's home and became more violent. His parents were again unsurprisingly not keen to access the services of the police or mental health again.
Following this conversation I telephoned police because of concerns about his safety. I wanted to pass information to the police so that if his parents needed to contact them they would respond appropriately. I wanted police to ensure if he was transported to hospital he would not be released without adequate assessment and supervision. They accepted the information gratefully.
I then telephoned the mental health assessment team with the same intention. My training tells me that I should provide information to those who might come in contact with my client. My training tells me that people might have been in danger both within and without the mental health service. I was particularly worried that my client might have been released prematurely. I was providing a service to both my client, his parents and mental health staff.
However, I was very clearly told that no information would be taken from me by the assessment tea. I was informed that I must provide all information through central intake. I was told that there was nothing that could be done with the information I was trying to provide. I was put through to the central intake line and left a message. By seven pm no-one had returned my call, I left work for the night. As I write I am not sure how the situation ended. I can only hope the client was never taken to either Mandala or A&E. I sincerely hope there was no violent outcome.
Regardless, I am horrified about the lack of regard, or adequate process provided our clients on this occasion and the blatant professional disregard I experienced. I am a very experienced mental health clinician and was treated with absolutely no respect. I can only wonder how our mutual clients are treated. I can also only wonder about the reaction of the public and of the Area health Service if this situation did indeed go terribly wrong.
regards,
Renee Napier
Clinical and Forensic Psychologist
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