I was referred to the Mead Centre due to my private psychiatrist retiring and me being no longer able to afford private treatment.
While I feel the services offered by the Mead Centre are extremely limited, I understand this is largely a result of government funding, or lack thereof, and so this is not the basis of my review - what I feel was the shocking treatment by the staff there is.
In my opinion, the Case Manager I was assigned to was judgemental and insulting from the beginning. I believe they asked irrelevant and offensive questions, potentially as a result of prejudiced assumptions based on my diagnosis or quite possibly a result of simple ignorance and incompetence.
Whatever the reason, the approach was definitely not, in my opinion, reflective of trauma-informed care and is quite frankly not good enough. I would expect an organisation such as the Mead Centre to not only be highly educated on mental health conditions, but also tactful and compassionate in their dealings, and whole-heartedly committed to not perpetuating the stigma that goes along with such conditions.
When I raised my concerns, I felt the Case Manager was defensive and minimised my experience, showing no concern whatsoever that I was not comfortable. Furthermore, the Mead Centre would not allow me a change of Case Manager when I requested this, even when advising I would feel much more comfortable with a staff member of my gender. While I can appreciate staffing constraints, this decision was not even discussed with or communicated to me. This whole experience has left me feeling unheard, disempowered and disheartened with the system. Public Health patients have rights too.
"Unheard, disempowered and disheartened"
About: Mead Centre (Assessment Treatment Team) Mead Centre (Assessment Treatment Team) Armadale 6112
Posted by daisychain (as ),
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