Campbell House 2023-01-12 Person 4 5 0

The care and support I received from [name removed] across a number of years most definitely saved my life. [name removed] treated me with compassion, empathy, honesty and professionalism. She always showed me such patience and respect in a human way that I hadn’t experienced elsewhere across health services. Without her input and the DBT programme I underwent with [name removed] I don’t think I would be the resilient person I am today and I am forever grateful for this service - without it I may not be here now and my life would not be as enriched. I now have a 7 year old amazing daughter and a job I am thriving in, prior to [name removed] stepping in as my CPN in 2014, I was hopeless and wasn’t able to foresee a future so thank you [name removed], [name removed] and all those that cared for me between then and now.

Community workers have an extremely high caseload and reducing this stress would ensure a more consistent service for patients. Waiting times are long and not everyone is as lucky as I was or able to advocate for themselves to navigate a complex system. The whole mental health approach needs to be simplified but I can see a lot of improvements have already been put in place since my initial treatment such as crisis cafes and open access to the mental health number - I appreciate these changes and imagine many have benefited since they were introduced. Staff like [name removed] should be rewarded with fair pay and benefits and a safe supportive working environment; their job satisfaction and ability to cope is of paramount importance being direct correlated with patient recovery and survival.