I find a lot of charity's to be nothing under the surface

[Jobseeker19]

I have contacted Shetler as a last resort about an issue I'm having and was just sent generic links to stuff I have already done that haven't worked. There was no actual help just information that is already out there.

Last year I had a mental health crisis and spoke to Mind online chat and was told about their Elefriends website which was a place to vent. But no actual help given.

If you look on the websites of many charities you will see they talk about how your donation will help someone desperately in need. But when you apply because you are that person in need there seems to be a barrier and are as helpful as uk.gov websites.

[Typo in title edited by MNHQ]

I agree that Shelter are badly named. Personally I’ve found their phone line enormously helpful with problems in two properties - not just about our rights but what to actually say and do to make problems stop. Whereas I found their webchat service so useless and robotic I complained about it and the person who responded agreed that it was robotic.

Mind actually ARE partly an information service but they don’t make that clear enough I guess.

Also if you don’t like the person you get on ringing Samaritans you can hang up and call back to get someone else.

@Silkierabbit if there is a Maggie's centre at your hospital I really can't recommend them highly enough. DH has cancer and they are keeping both him and me sane.

I wonder if we are expecting too much of charities, in expecting them to provide a service which Gov has a statutory duty to provide?
This post illustrates perfectly that the core issue -in this case cancer- is being treated by nhs and charities are providing additional support with other things- counselling and feel good trip. We would not be expecting a charity to treat the cancer.

So with Homelessness the charity could provide advice on housing providers and help to get eg. furniture, but not provide the roof over someone's head. That would be the responsibility of local councils.

And likewise with MH the charity could provide befriending , exercise classes, peer support groups but not actually treatment for MH conditions or people in crisis. That would be the responsibility of the NHS.

And the charities lobbying the Gov is helping to make sure theses issues are at the forefront and provision is made however woefully inadequate

@CuddlyCactus

Yes. I work for a large MH charity. We provide services like you’ve described and we have educational courses too, suicide prevention courses etc.

If we are approached by someone in a MH crisis for example someone who is experiencing psychosis or is suicidal we are obliged to refer to stat services as we are not professionals. Unfortunately MH stat services are dire so we all then get tarred with the same brush.

When I needed help with my mental health after a traumatic event, I followed the advice and spoke to my GP. They gave me a number for self referral, which I rang, only to be told I needed to apply online. So I filled in all my details online. 2 weeks later I was called, and a time was arranged for me to have a call to discuss my needs, in a months time. At that phone call I had to go through exactly what the traumatic event was, to a man who was clearly just typing it into a computer and was completely uninterested. He said we have these courses available and told me about 4 online courses, none of which was anything to do with my needs. I asked if I could have counselling, and he said I need to do one of the courses first. So I picked a course about relaxation. It didn't start until 3 months later. It was a 4 week course, 2 hours once a week, at a time that was very inconvenient to me (my son's bed time), but I did it because I needed to, to get counselling. The course finished, then a month later someone rang to ask how it went and if I still needed counselling. I said yes I definitely do, I am still not coping with what happened etc. He put me on the waiting list and said the wait would be at least 2 years. I am still waiting. This is why mental health charities are so needed at the moment. This is why, from time to time, I end up calling the Samaritans in the middle of the night when my son is asleep. I have found some of the online things on the Mind website very helpful, but I really need to talk about what happened to me. It's so, so difficult to get help. I cannot afford private counselling. I feel for you OP, you are not alone.

@CurlyBurley I'm really sorry you're going through this.
Your experience just demonstrates the woefully inadequate nhs MH services.
But it's the NHS that needs to step up and provide funding and proper treatment, they have a statutory duty to do this