Mental Health Views Ltd

Mental Health Views Ltd 2023-03-21 Person 5 5 0

This is an honest and genuine feedback for the psychiatrist Dr. Katy Briffa, as I have been under her care for about a year and a half, since the end of 2021. I would like to have given a review earlier, but was not feeling well enough to do so, until recently. I learned about Dr. Briffa from the Occupational Health Service in my workplace, mentioning Practitioner Health Services. Dr. Briffa has been looking after me during the most difficult period of my life so far, with diagnosed depression and work-related PTSD. This was done remotely, via video call, and I have not been physically present in Mental Health Views Ltd. Being a healthcare professional myself, I understand the importance of having a good medical professional to look after patients and I feel I have had remarkable care given by Dr. Briffa. Dr. Briffa's care has been pivotal and invaluable in my ongoing recovery. I always found Dr Briffa's demeanor to be genuinely caring, professional, non-judgemental, knowledgeable, thorough, sensitive, considerate, compassionate, with very good communication skills and emotional intelligence/empathy. From my experience, this combination of traits unfortunately is rare indeed and I would hope that more healthcare professionals would have this combination of traits. She related very well with me, listening to my difficulties (which was quite difficult to discuss about me and my mental health/overall health, with feelings of embarassment) and creating very good rapport and connection from the start. With Dr. Briffa, I was having feelings of trust and safety, instead of the general distrust and apprehension from the behaviours I experienced, after I whistleblew in my workplace and subsequent retaliation by colleagues. I felt understood and that I could share the negative experiences in the workplace and show her what happened. Dr Briffa's stance has also been invaluable with the Occupational Health Service, helping with adjustments and giving a well-needed overall protection, due to my long-standing disability. She recognised the issues I was having and we worked together towards recovery. Dr. Briffa helped me understand the root causes and symptoms for the conditions, in my complex situation, by using her knowledge to explain all aspects that were relevant. This increased my overall insight and knowledge as well. She also made constructive suggestions to aid with my recovery. I feel Dr. Briffa has done everything she could to help me recover. She arranged emergency CBT appointment for me at the start, and has been very reliable and in fact going the extra mile, responding very quickly to emails and at times when needed, even on short notice. Also, another important thing is that I was well informed, in terms of informed consent, for what is available and what therapy should take place and the reason why. This helped reduce my overall stress and worries, along with the provided considerable support overall. She would allow for time if needed, during the consultation, if it was getting emotinally challenging. She also was signposting me to multiple resources with information to aid my recovery, in a way that felt more of a holistic approach, as that is how care should be. Dr Briffa's overall stance was motivating me overall to work on my recovery and helped with my overall engagement and commitment, despite the issues with very low mood and procrastination. I am very grateful for her presence and care she provided. Thank you Dr. Briffa for everything.