"Lack of support when I really needed it"

Last year my therapist, who I had been seeing for many years, passed away. I was going through a rather difficult time in my life and this only added to my struggles.

Following this I was seeing a case worker at Star Health from the Mental Health Team (then Inner South Community Health). With little notice and no real discussion with me, they dismissed me from the program, only two weeks after my therapists passing. I was extremely vulnerable at this time and I feel that they did not take any consideration into what I was going through. All they did was send me a list of possible new therapists. This was a time where I needed support in social aspects and needed them to provide me with that people-contact.

Speaking with my psychiatrist, they said that they believed that the case worker couldn’t deal with the suicidal thoughts that I had been feeling and had discussed with them.

Prior to my dismissal, the case worker had taken me to a respite facility to look at what options I may have available to me when I need a bit of time for myself. During the care ride, they said to me that the respite facility does not take people who were suicidal. Saying this was not a problem as it was something that I needed to be made aware of. However, when we got to the facility and were speaking to the respite worker, my case worker asked them – you don’t accept people that are suicidal, do you? I was so embarrassed. They had already told me this in private (where it was appropriate), why did they need to say this in front of people?

I want to clarify that it wasn’t all bad. They were able to help me get a computer so that I could take a course, and were taking me to see what options I had for further support. But overall they really needed to be there to support me during this difficult time, and they really did not do this for me.