"Sent in circles, not listened to."

I recently (well, probably about six+ months ago now) was referred to the Single Point of Acess team for a referral for specialist treatment. I had previously lived in Gateshead, had seen a CBT therapist but had agreed after about 9 or 10 sessions that I needed to reflect more on trauma that had happened to me rather than just how to change/move forward (the rumination, as he called it, is pretty bad). We agreed on DBT.

I was told by the nurse I had seen that I would be referred to the Traumatic Stress Service. I turned up there, and was told it was a very short service, and they could not refer me to any other services. She then wrote a letter to my doctor referring me back to you.

Further to this, during both my meeting with SPoA and the Traumatic Stress Service, I was asked about an overdose in 2014, that actually occurred three years prior in 2011. This happened whilst at university. To add insult to injury, I had already told SPoA this and that it happened during my time at university, I was given NO HELP during this time (even though I had tried to kill myself...it was just exam stress, apparently...) and ended up struggling for another year and a bit and ended up dropping out. This has affected my self esteem massively, which is why I'm only just able to really get on with my life now. To have people not listen to you, and seemingly not care or understand the severity of how I felt then and how angry I am still about my treatment in Lancashire, that it adds to anxieties I have about pursuing treatment which in the long term I know will do me no good...it's pretty terrible.

Overall, it's taken me far longer than it should have to get the appropriate treatment for my needs, there's very poor communication within the service and to an extent, nurses and therapists that don't really listen (when the TSS referred me back to my doctor, for example, she described me as a single female, despite the large portion of our conversation taken up with me telling her I'd moved about WITH MY PARTNER who I AM STILL WITH. )

It's really no good...