So there's posters everywhere at my uni advertising how they offer counseling and shit to people who need it. Since the NHS doesn't give you anything unless you're literally on the edge of suicide I have no ongoing support right now, so I thought, hey, it's free, let's see if these guys can help me.
I was told I might have to wait two weeks for an appointment but I got a phone call a few days later saying I could have one next week. Not bad. So the day came and I went in. The guy told me this would be a first meeting to see what type of support I need and asked why I was there, so we spoke about my problems for a bit. When I mentioned I had suicidal thoughts during my last episode he kept pressing me for details about them. When I wouldn't tell him (why did he need the exact details on the first meeting anyway?) he said he couldn't do anything to help me because I wouldn't open up about my thoughts (wat?).
He did then mention mental health services he could direct me to, however, so I asked him about those. He told me there was a free NHS run service for CBT, so I said that sounds like it could be helpful... but he then told me they were only trained to do minor depression and anxiety, not bipolar.
At the end of all this what he basically said was that I was too fucked up for their service to be of any help. He couldn't do anything to help me nor could he direct me to anyone else who could help me.
I do have an appointment with the mental health team for next month so I'll wait for that and see if they're more helpful, but despite being told how great the counseling service is I was utterly disappointed.
You would think that in an environment where there's such extreme stress they would be better equipped to deal with that sort of thing. I hope that the mental health team is less useless than nipples on a breastplate and can actually help you instead of standing there and picking their noses!
