"Mental health care in WA"

Post discharge from hospital, my partner received care at Perth Clinic for 4 weeks after their attempted suicide. The day before their discharge I received notification they were being discharged. I was shocked and my children were panicking as we hadn’t received much support, explanation or reassurance regarding my spouse’s state of and risk. In one afternoon, I spoke to the consultant who said I could “pop up” to speak with them about my spouse’s discharge the following day. I had just walked in from work as life still goes on and bills have to be paid etc and was tearful and exhausted so I declined driving a long distance.

The consultant didn’t appear impressed nor understanding so I just ended the call. Post discharge from the mental health facility as you can imagine we were all on tender hooks…my children were petrified to leave my spouse alone despite reassurance that they were not suicidal anymore. It was horrific and stressful and my children were putting pressure on me to improve the situation which I didn’t know how to do or how to navigate the system or who to call about our worries. Again we were left feeling abandoned alone and to fend for ourselves.

This continued for a month with my spouse attending their therapy sessions 2x a week and everyone else just carrying on like everything was normal except it was and is far from normal. Then the scaffolding started to fall away, the resilience faltered and the ‘just keep going’ became exhausting and unsustainable, with so many questions unanswered, so much hurt betrayal and sadness not addressed due to not being able to access or know how to access any services to help my family who were falling apart. 8 months wait time for family counselling to help us reconnect and talk about the last 4 months …. This took its toll and my child finished up in crisis and threatening harm due to the lack of medical/ psychological support finished up in hospital and another family member also became so distressed unable to cope spent 3 weeks in a youth unit. My family are struggling and are falling apart and I am struggling to keep it all together to be honest. I am the only working and fully functioning adult / parent in my family and I feel helpless and powerless to help and repair my family due to the lack of follow up / support or acknowledgment by health professionals as to the impact this has had to my previous family.

The foundations that I worked hard to build are crumbling and all I can do is continue to ask for help and guidance.

I have no words to express how I feel after unfortunately being stuck in the MH system for the past 6 years. Which I feel was promised to be given a healthy financial boost and seemingly hollow promises of improvement to all those families who have suffered just like we are. 6 years and I see decline, I see poor performance, I see the minimal.