"MHOA Services"

I presented to ED at Sir Charles Gardiner recently after another hospital forcibly discharged me (even though I was there due to a suicide attempt and had further harmed myself on the ward).

I was swiftly seen by a nurse, I do not know his name, and he was absolutely incredible and deserves to be recognised for his incredible interview skills, compassion and understanding of my thoughts/feelings.

Following this, a mental health nurse came into the ED and explained that he was getting me a bed in MHOA (mental health observation area) and that they were just waiting for a bed to be available. I was in a bed in MHOA around 2 hours after first presenting to ED.

The MHOA staff were amazing. They dressed my wounds, gave me some medications to help with the voices/intense thoughts and desires to injure myself. When I was in a dissociation crisis, one of the nurses helped me to breathe through it and held my hand as I cried. She was wonderful.

The next day, one particular nurse worked so hard to find me a bed in a psych ward for admission to help me. She was incredible in explaining my options and talking me through things.

I would like to shout out to James who was %%%%ing incredible with my care and just generally looked after me very well. 

The food at MHOA was also decent.