Mental Health Help - This could be your helping hand

a reply to: stonerwilliam

It’s a failure if the system. Police involvement worsens the situation in most cases I imagine. I also found the hospitals to be of little help due to their slow procedures. However in the uk there is a policy under the be Tory budget to ensure a mental health expert is available 24hrs in all hospitals. I hop this happens.

Surprising how helpless you feel in a situation where you are trying your hardest to help someone who needs help.

a reply to: Blue Shift

I don’t fully understand your situation but I do understand that coping strategies are a completely personal and individual thing. What works for you works but may not work for others. It’s a huge victory to be able to develop coping strategies or even a whole lifestyle in order to cope. That’s the only way right?

Thanks for sharing.

a reply to: rickymouse

We do all have our quirks. Which is why it is frustrating that the subject was almost a taboo for so long.

It is the small, relatively harmless chinks in our armour that add the seasoning to our personality. In the same instance it is also the hardest experiences which make us who we are. It would be boring if we were all normal.

a reply to: M4nWithNoN4me

I think fear of being judged is my main worry about seeking help when in a dark place. Even though now i know I wouldn’t be judged, well mayb I would but I think it would be a positive judgement for getting help. But all perspective is lost when you are ill, making decisions hard to make and assess.

a reply to: SpaghettiHero

I understand your reservations about mental health services. However the people who choose to work in the sector are motivated by good intentions. Although my experiences have been negative the services have on all occasions achieved the goal of getting the person in question back to normal, just in a rather painful manner.

Even though I love booze and am definitely not against smoking (actually vaping is coming along nowadays, not cheap devices though) I do suffer from depression after both of these substances. Especially the booze. It helps for an hour but then for two or three days I experience seriously negative consequences with no perceived way out.

As for your computer addiction.. Not such a bad thing to be addicted to. It brings knowledge and happiness to your life, who would want to stop that? I did a report on internet addiction syndrome years ago and it’s remarkable how many of us are genuinely addicted.

Good input, thanks.

a reply to: diggindirt

That sounds like a heart wrenching situation. You’ve done all you can and the system is mucking it up. Which then adds to the detriment because the girl ends up being resented for being a burden or a chore. I went through similar but not as extreme, I had to literally force a hospital to do certain things before anything improved. If they had got their own way the situation I was involved in would have spiralled out of control.

a reply to: TheLorax

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I wish I could offer more in the way of a reply but it wouldn’t be of any benefit, you are a veteran in all this it seems. Respect to you for sticking by your family and being there for them. You probably take that as a given but many find it too hard to cope and turn a blind eye. In fact someone close to me, the parents used to say this person was ‘just being silly’ when experiencing an episode. But I can’t hold that against them, it was their way of coping.

Actually I do hold it against them. Rather a lot now I think about it.

a reply to: justdust

Like the poster alludes to above, the idea that one might be ‘ok’ with idea of dying defaults them to being mentally ill. Both their and your posts are rational explanations for being fed up with life. Should this logical approach be assessed as an illness? I definitely think not.

I do believe religion is a wonderful thing. I have seen it help a few people out of bad situations where other methods/things were not helping.

I wish you peace and happiness and hope you find something to help take just a grain of that hopelessness away.

originally posted by: hombero
a reply to: and14263

I'm not in the UK so this can't be my helping hand. Not a great title.

I hope I didn’t get your hopes up.

I did google a bit and there are similar services in other countries.

I hope you find what you’re looking for but if you don’t feel free to come back, maybe have a read of the thread see if it offers any inkling of help.

I hope to see you in the boards... or maybe not, I’m a sh•t on the other forums

a reply to: and14263

I have found Crisis Messenger. By texting ‘THE MIX’ to 85258 in the UK or, run by a separate organization, for the US text ‘CONNECT’ to 741741.

Doing this puts you in immediate contact with a crisis counsellor and could pull someone out of that hole. Or even better, save your life.

What a fantastic idea and OP.

I'd like to add Samaritans UK whose number is 116 123 (free). The guys who work the hotlines are like angels in my opinion. They spend their free time helping strangers and saving lives.

originally posted by: hombero
a reply to: and14263

I'm not in the UK so this can't be my helping hand. Not a great title.

Canada
KidsHelpPhone Ages 20 Years and Under in Canada 1-800-668-6868
First Nations and Inuit Hope for Wellness 24/7 Help Line 1-855-242-3310
Canadian Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line 1-866-925-4419
Trans LifeLine – All Ages 1-877-330-6366
Alberta Crisis Line – All Ages 403-266-4357
British Columbia Crisis Line – All Ages 1-800-SUICIDE
British Columbia Mental Health Support 310-6789
BC211 – Referral Hotline 24/7 Dial 211
Manitoba Crisis Line – All Ages 1-877-435-7170
New Brunswick Crisis Line – All Ages 1-800-667-5005
Newfoundland and Labrador Line All Ages 1-888-737-4668
NWT All Ages 24/7 1-800-661-0844
Nova Scotia Crisis Line – All Ages 1-888-429-8167
Nunavut Line – All Ages 7 pm-11 pm (EST) 1-800-265-3333
Ontario Crisis Line – All Ages 1-866-531-2600
Ontario College and University Students 1-866-925-5454
Prince Edward Island Crisis Line – All Ages 1-800-218-2885
Quebec National Crisis Line – All Ages 1-866-277-3553
Saskatchewan Crisis Line – All Ages 1-306-525-5333
Yukon Crisis Line – All Ages 7 pm-12 am (PST) 1-844-533-3030

United States

Trans LifeLine – U.S.A. 1-877-565-8860
The Trevor Project Lifeline 866-488-7386
U.S. National Suicide Prevention LifeLine 1-800-273-TALK
Military Veterans Canada and U.S.A. 1-800-273-8255 Press 2 for Spanish

thelifelinecanada.ca...

List of suicide crisis lines.

originally posted by: Kandinsky

originally posted by: hombero
a reply to: and14263

I'm not in the UK so this can't be my helping hand. Not a great title.

Canada
KidsHelpPhone Ages 20 Years and Under in Canada 1-800-668-6868
First Nations and Inuit Hope for Wellness 24/7 Help Line 1-855-242-3310
Canadian Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line 1-866-925-4419
Trans LifeLine – All Ages 1-877-330-6366
Alberta Crisis Line – All Ages 403-266-4357
British Columbia Crisis Line – All Ages 1-800-SUICIDE
British Columbia Mental Health Support 310-6789
BC211 – Referral Hotline 24/7 Dial 211
Manitoba Crisis Line – All Ages 1-877-435-7170
New Brunswick Crisis Line – All Ages 1-800-667-5005
Newfoundland and Labrador Line All Ages 1-888-737-4668
NWT All Ages 24/7 1-800-661-0844
Nova Scotia Crisis Line – All Ages 1-888-429-8167
Nunavut Line – All Ages 7 pm-11 pm (EST) 1-800-265-3333
Ontario Crisis Line – All Ages 1-866-531-2600
Ontario College and University Students 1-866-925-5454
Prince Edward Island Crisis Line – All Ages 1-800-218-2885
Quebec National Crisis Line – All Ages 1-866-277-3553
Saskatchewan Crisis Line – All Ages 1-306-525-5333
Yukon Crisis Line – All Ages 7 pm-12 am (PST) 1-844-533-3030

United States

Trans LifeLine – U.S.A. 1-877-565-8860
The Trevor Project Lifeline 866-488-7386
U.S. National Suicide Prevention LifeLine 1-800-273-TALK
Military Veterans Canada and U.S.A. 1-800-273-8255 Press 2 for Spanish

thelifelinecanada.ca...

List of suicide crisis lines.

These resources need more exposure , and accessibility.
Sad to hear that prisons are over filled with people with
no other crime but addictions, homelessness, traumatic-stress,
and psychological problems.
Mental illness, addictions are a health issue not crimes.
Crises teams need more funding, more training,
and the police need to stick to their specific job in fighting crime.

a reply to: ToneDeaf

I mostly agree with you apart from where there's an overlap between mental illness and criminality.

Crisis teams definitely deserve more funding and I'd love to see them individually getting rewards for their services to society.

originally posted by: stonerwilliam
a reply to: and14263

I saw first hand how hard it is to get someone help a few months ago , I have a young friend who totally lost it when they were stopped getting access to their child by a ex partner .

The friend was intent on harming himself in another friends house , he was caught trying to hang himself and had taken a weeks supply of his medication and was totally out of it and in the next 5-6 hours tried to kill himself loads of times , when i phoned the police for help asking for him to be sectioned under the mental health act . 10 cops turned up in about 6 vehicles but would not take us the 5 minute drive to the nut house all they wanted to do was cuff him and nick him but i told them on no terms was this going to happen .

They made him get into a ambulance and go to hospital where he caused chaos for hours maybe 7 hours after things had kicked off did i get him to where he should have been and off my hands this left me weak was putting it mildly as i had 6 heart attacks in the year before this .

Months before this in a B&b some crazy guy who threatened to cut his own throat was sent 4 armed cops with new machine guns and all the gear on to quieten him down the guy would cry if you shouted at him , he is that soft

You mention "sectioned under the MHA" so I'm assuming that you're in the UK.

Sounds like the police were trying to follow the legal process. They couldn't s136 him from inside a property as it only applies in public places (presumably why they wanted to arrest him or convince him to go outside to the ambulance). They also couldn't take him to just any psychiatric hospital because they could only take him to a recognised place of safety - not many psychiatric units actually have what they call a s136 suite, so the local A&E is the most common destination.

A&E faces a separate set of issues with getting people assessed under the MHA, not least of which is that they have to treat the physical issues first. If he turned up off his head on medication, it's quite likely that the MH assessment team (when they finally turned up) said they couldn't assess him until the effects of the medication had sufficiently worn off. Even if they *did* section him immediately, he would have had to stay there to receive medical treatment anyway - and the Mental Health Act doesn't provide a power to force medical treatment (to distinguish from psychiatric treatment, which it can compel) outside of a very narrow set of circumstances.

Regardless of the mechanism for getting him to A&E was, unless the criteria were met for lack of capacity (not as straightforward as you might think), they couldn't force him to accept any medical treatment that he didn't agree to.

It's not a perfect system by any means, trying to balance a need to act against the need to respect the right of people to make unwise choices, but the biggest issues with it revolve around the lack of resources to implement it effectively rather than the system itself.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Good addition thanks

a reply to: and14263

Some people go to work every day and literally save lives. Others volunteer and save lives on their own dime.

Thank God, gods, altruism, whimsy, karma and/or biological imperatives for these people!

Also thank you for posting such a heartfelt thread.