"I’m very disappointed in the whole system"

When my son moved from children’s to adult services everything fell apart.

Transition was non-existent and there wasn’t one person that could coordinate everything. It was like you’ve been a carer all these years, now my childs an adult let him get on with it.

They should give carers a handbook on what to expect and what will happen when a child moves to adult services.

My son shut down after this, he wasn’t talking to anyone. He went to college but this caused anxiety and he was in a lot of pain every day. As a carer what do you do, apart from go to your GP but the GP wasn’t helping.

I contacted the mental health team and asked for a referral to a psychiatrist. At his appointment my son opened up that the pain was so excruciating that he didn’t want to live. The psychiatrist told him he was an adolescent and would grow out it. This made things worse and a few days later he ended up in A&E – they were not much help either. A&E referred him to primary care services but we are still waiting to see someone and this has been since February. I went to my local MP but they were not able to help. We didn’t have any support until we found the Dirrans centre.

We have seen the same psychiatrist twice more and they haven't helped. The psychiatrist told my son that they only see him to give him medication and is clearly not listening or looking at the whole picture.

We have asked to see a different psychiatrist but are still waiting for this.

I’m very disappointed in the whole system, I couldn’t find out what I should do, I tried, I phoned everyone I could think of to get help. There were a lot of tears, a lot of anger and a lot of frustration. Something is missing for people with complex needs. Waiting times are ridiculous, people promise things that don’t happen.

There should have been one person coordinating all of my son’s health issues. A condition doesn’t go away when you become an adult.