Patient story One young person s experience of CAMHS.
I ll start at the beginning. I had always been an extremely anxious child and by the age of seven I began receiving help from CAMHS. This helped me to keep my anxiety under control. I was discharged for a few years but by the time I started high school I began to have more difficulties. I began waking up every morning struggling to face the day and turned to self harming as a way of coping with how I was feeling.
What happened next The self harming continued happening more and more as I felt like I had no control in my life. I became withdrawn from my friends and my family and they realized something wasn t right with me and I was referred back to CAMHS through my GP. I received regular appointments at my local CAAMHS but by the time I got the support I had lost hope in ever feeling better so I still kept how I was feeling to myself. I thought how I felt was wrong and that no one else would felt the same.
I couldn t cope alone. When I was 15, I realized I couldn t deal with everything anymore I didn't t know what but something was making life so unbearable. I suddenly got a lot worse and I tried to end my life, it seemed the only way to get away from the thoughts in my head, and I felt I was worthless.
Pine lodge. CAMHS then realized I needed more help than they could give me in the community and I was admitted to Pine lodge, a Tier 4 unit in Chester for 13-18 year olds with complex mental health issues. There was about ten of us on the ward and we each had our own bedrooms. Days in pine lodge consisted of going to the on site school, receiving therapy sessions from staff and in an evening getting visits from family or friends. It wasn t somewhere any of us wanted to be but it served a purpose of keeping us safe and getting us the help we needed.
Answers. Whilst in the unit I was diagnosed with severe depression and an Autism spectrum condition, things finally made sense and I had the answer that I had needed for so long. I didn t see the diagnosis as something negative because it meant I received the helped I needed. I wouldn t let them define who I was. It was also in the unit that during therapy sessions and talking to other young people I realized I wasn t alone. That people did understand me and that with a lot of hard work things could get better.
Recovery. As I received the right help I began to understand myself better and I wanted a life again. After five months I was discharged from the unit and got to go home. I returned to school with help from family, friends and professionals and I finally saw that recovery was possible.
Hope. I am now discharged from CAMHS and have turned my life around. Although discharged I still have support and compared to how unwell I was I have come a long way. Nearly three years on and I have turned my life around, I have just completed my A Level s and plan to go to university next year. Something I never thought would be possible at the beginning of my journey.
CAMHS Crew. The one thing that has played a huge part in my recovery is the CAMHS involvement group. We are a group of young people from Cheshire East passionate about changing and improving the way mental health services are run. We talk to schools, colleges and professionals about what its like living with a mental health problem and aim to get rid of the stigma attached to it. It gives me a reason to keep well and I feel like I am giving something back to the service that has given so much to me.