"Both sides of the trust"

I am both working for & am receiving treatment from the trust. I suffer from anxiety & depression. This started over 10 years ago, at first I was just seeing my GP who first prescribed Prozac. This medication was not the right one for me & I slowly got worse eventually getting bad suicidal & murderous thoughts. This was the first time I had contact with the trust.

I was referred & seen within 90 minutes. The consultant I saw was very helpful, he listened to me for a total of nearly 4 hours. He changed my medication & arranged to see other members of the team. During this initial time one of the services I had contact with was the employment support team, where I got a place on their gardening group. Over time I found this very helpful, & eventually got a job working for the trust as a nursing assistant.

Over the next few years I continued to work but found it very stressful at times but did not have the confidence to open up to anyone. This resulted in a relapse. At this point I was refered to the Occupational Health service. With the help of this service & the foresight of one of the directors of the trust, I was offered another job within the trust.

Also during this relapse I am also grateful to my case support worker who through our weekly & 2 weekly meetings has helped me view life in a more positive light, teaching me coping strategies.