"Mental Health Crisis Team"

Met with what I feel was poor service, incompetence, bad attitude and bias. I called the team regarding concern for a family member and left my number for them to get back to me as I could not get through to anyone right away. They instead directly called the family member asking for me, which made my family member's behaviour more erratic and violent than before, putting me at risk and I struggled to find the time to safely answer the calls when I told them to call my number instead. Family member then called the service in anger and panic to take control of the narrative (which was one of my concerns). The team told me they would conduct a home visit to discuss my family member's mental health.

When they visited, they were polite and easy to talk to but did not ask enough relevant questions nor gave me the opportunity to discuss the many concerns I had made a list of, only asked questions about me. They also visited without booking an interpreter to speak to my family member (which was who this was all about) so completely wasted my time. They then told me that another home visit will be conducted and that I would be able to discuss my concerns then.

However, the second visit was conducted by a team member who I found very rude and condescending, they were not willing to listen or put aside their own biases when asking me questions, scoffing and trying to put words in my mouth when I would try to clarify. At this second visit, I was still not given a chance to express any of my concerns for my family, instead this member of staff exclusively listened to the family member who called the team to complain. Again, wasting my time as I was told prior I would get a chance to speak and help out this time and so I had prepared accordingly. Furthermore, I feel the crisis team member blamed me for my past bad experiences with them.

I called the team on behalf of a family member who is getting worse each day despite my own terrible experiences with the team in the past because there are limited options in such a small city and thought they may still be able to help my family, but even I did not feel safe or heard at the second home visit and can definitely see why my past experience was consistently bad. 

And as the team has decided to have their discussion without the input of the person who contacted them (me), I am very concerned that they will not be able to do their job and decide the right course of action with limited and one-sided information and that my family member will not receive the care they need. I feel the team has instead fanned the flames and put me in danger while not doing anything for the person in need of their help. I feel it's  completely unacceptable!