To thinking gp should speak to her sooner than a week

[ilovebreadsauce]

DN is an ect and has been struggling with being unsupported in her class, she is anxious all day and can just about hold ot together during the day but can't stop crying the test of the time.She is unable to eat or sleep properly.Yesterday there was only her, a supply teacher and a HLTA in the school and an incident happened which nobody really knew how to deal with.This seems to be the straw which broke the camel's 🐫 back.
She has gone off sick today and made an econsult form .The doctor won't speak to her for a week.surely she needs some help/ medication before then?

Can she access any support through work?

You can self refer for talking therapies in many areas
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/nhs-talking-therapies/

Further support here
https://www.thecalmzone.net/get-support

But yes, it’s rubbish. Appointments are like gold dust, the ‘help’ is usually a referral for CBT that you could wait 3/4 months for, and is not much help at all ime, medication could be started sooner though.
Can she phone and book an appointment on the morning? If they say it’s for urgent appointments only then I’d say MH is an urgent need tbh. EConsults I feel are for slightly less pressing appointments. Get her to phone first thing when the lines open.

They will say MH isn’t urgent. The GP will prescribe meds and refer for talking therapy like CBT or counselling, but as pp said she will wait 4-5 months to get seen for talking therapy, and even when you do get seen you only get 6 weeks of 1hr per week therapy.

I think she just wants meds for anxiety/depression.

Sorry no advice about the GP but she needs to push for support from school.

How on earth were they allowed to open with just her a supply and hlta?? You have to have a safeguarding trained teacher on site. Where are the SLT?

If she hasn't already, perhaps a call to the helpline at Education Support - ECT Mental Health might at least give her some immediate emotional support from folks who understand the issues.

Thank you the helpline was brilliant and horrified at the way she had been treated.i think she is going to consult a private gp tomorrow

I am pleased the helpline was of benefit.

If she phones her GP practice again she should ask to be referred to primary care mental health services, a CPN or other dedicated MH worker if there's one attached to the surgery, or at the very least a GP with an interest in mental health.

I don't know if it's like this everywhere, but I know locally that GP's are reluctant to prescribe medication. To be fair to the Primary Care MH service, I did speak to someone there very quickly, six week counselling only had a couple of weeks wait and I was offered group CBT but was unable to attend at the dates/times/locations offered. Other areas may, of course, differ, but I was impressed with the speed, given how long most things take in the NHS.

Thanks for your replies.The surgery rang back this morning to say the doctor had reviewed the econsults and prescribed sertraline and an appointment in a week for cbt.she has started on the medication so fingers crossed x