AIBU to complaint to the police.

[NurseInTraining]

So first of all I generally have always had a really good relationship with police officers that I come into contact with - they do an incredibly difficult job and don't need any extra hassle but...

For context I have mental health problems and sometimes self harm. A few weeks ago I contacted the local crisis team to say I was struggling and they contacted the police who came around. They asked me to come outside my house and then immediately handcuffed me behind my back (I had cut my wrist) and detained me under section 136 of the mental health act (you can't be detained under a 136 if you are in your home hence why he asked me to come outside).

I have no history of violence and I don't believe that handcuffing me behind my back was necessary. The officer's partner apologised for how it was handled afterwards and the next pair of officers that looked after me in hospital (police have to wait with you while you are waiting for an assessment) also said that he was heavy handed.

I don't think I should have been handcuffed but if they needed to for safety I think they could have handcuffed me with my hands in front of me rather than behind. Afterwards I had bruised wrists and I needed stitches as the wounds in my wrist were so bad. I don't think this was helped by the handcuffs.

It was very traumatic but I didn't think much of it afterwards as I was unwell however I have since found out that I have tendon damage in my wrist (not sure where or when from - could easily have come from elsewhere but might have come from this event).

I was mentioned this to a mental health support worker at my uni and he said that he thinks I should make a complaint to the police about this. It never occurred to me to do so before but I am also a student mental health nurse (ironic) and I believe that education about helpful way to work with people with mental health problems is really important and that nothing changes if problems aren't reported.

So should I complain?

Oh and just for info - a 136 patient bit the thumb off one of my colleagues so yeah - they'll use cuffs . For everyone's safety . How do they know you're harmless when you've used a blade to cause an injury to yourself?

I get that. 💯
My uni know everything and I have regular meetings with my tutor and the head of professional standards - they are pragmatic but very supportive.
Due to my ongoing issues I am currently suspended from being on placement until an NHS occupational health doctor declares me fit to be on placement. I am allowed to continue with theory and I am not due to placement until after the occ health assessment so this isn't holding me back. If I have to take a period out then I can continue with studying theory and then do the placements after my course finishes but before I get my PIN if I can't catch up on my hours before then.
I know it might seem strange but the dichotomy between me as a student nurse and me as a patient is like the difference between light and dark.
Normally I find being around a lot of people overwhelming but when I am on placement I can literally deal with multiple people screaming and crying, someone asking for help and someone else asking questions about their medication without batting an eyelash. Even I am stunned by the difference in me. It is weird but when I am being a student nurse I am a completely different person to who I am when I am a patient. I have realised since I started my degree that a lot of my problems come from being bored and not challenged and this is a big deal when not at uni. Believe it or not but I have had only positive feedback and according to my supervisors I am a really good student nurse.
I am accessing all the help I can. My student mental health support worker is great and will call me every week day if I need it - he is brilliant as support and I am also accessing counselling from the uni which is very helpful. I have also been open and honest with every supervisor I have had during all of my placements.
I genuinely believe that my struggles will make me a better mental health nurse and if your stopped all of the people from my MH cohort who have mental health problems you would bar about 95% of them.

Why did you phone 999 op? For ambulance or did you need police ?

Ambulance won't attend alone if a blade is used so they ask for police protection.

Maybe we need to stop doing this ?
As police if we are just open to spurious complaints we should say no and let ambulance deal ? It's a medical issue after all ?

But police can't say no can they . The only emergency service that can't .

Get help op . Focus your energy on that .

And with respect - if you are slitting your wrists you are the last mental health nurse on the planet id want in a mental health crisis'.

Yes experience is great to empathise with people but you are clearly not recovered.

It's like an alcoholic sponsoring AA .
Get well - THEN you may be able to help other mental health patients .

And I can guarantee you that if you start practicing in the field of mental health you WILL need police at some point to one of your patients.

I feel really sorry for the police and thanks to the officers who have replied on this thread. Having explained why the officer acted as he did it makes perfect sense however unpalatable.

If you read my OP you will see that I didn't call 999.

If you don't mind I will trust the judgement of my tutor and the director of professional standards over you with regard to whether I am fit to be a nurse.

Absolutely.

I think I might go in a shoplifting spree and hope my inspector is as understanding .

I need some new clothes.

What the actual fuck is the world coming to ?

A mental health nurse who is slitting their wrists and has the audacity to actually ask if they should complain about being out into handcuffs despite using a blade to cause injury to themselves?

I've heard it all now. I really do need another job. This one is fucked .

Go get well . Good luck .

And since this is AIBU

Yes . You are .

The Police do not know anything about you, they were taking precautions, why complain, they were doing there job

And when you're assaulted by one of your patients would you expect police to act ?
Or would you expect them to get the fluffy pink cuffs out that don't hurt . ?

Just wondering for when your thumb gets bitten off .

Yes, because those two analogies are the same. A lot of mental health staff have mental health problems - that is why we get it.
I don't generally self-harm but recently have been through an extremely difficult to time and that has caused a relapse. Just like a physical health problem can relapse.
I am a great nurse and I go out of my way for my patients. I am empathetic, informative and can set appropriate boundaries with my patients - none of my patients I have worked with have an idea that I have a history of self-harm but they do know that I am able to show empathy and understanding to them.
Luckily my lecturers and the staff I am working with generally know what empathy is.

Since you have felt it necessary to reply repeatedly I will answer you. I have spent a year working with mental health patients - I have yet to have my "thumb bitten off'. What is your experience working with mental health patients?

We have training on mental health however this is not the remit of the police ! You know when everyone slates is for not going to burglaries? This is why . Because we are doing everyone else's job for them because we are the last bastion and we can't say no . Mental health is 80% of our job now when we should be investigating actual crime . That's our job - but instead we are expected to be mental health nurses and social workers. The public actually need to decide what they want police to do . Because we cannot do everything and yet that's what the expectations are .

Op
My experience of working with mh is probably significantly more than yours as a student nurse with what sounds like significant mh issues yourself.

My experience is 14 years worth . The last mh health patient I had dealings with had just bludgeoned his neighbour to death for calling him a nonce .

What's your experience?

That was 3 weeks ago . Pretty recent . And you wonder why you were handcuffed?

Wait until you're out there in the field . Then come back and tell me what your experience is .

At this point, you are now known to the police. They know who you are and they know what you do. You slit your wrists and then call for help.

NHS is on it's knees. Ambulances are non existent. They get a call from you, again, to say you've split your wrists and now want help, so they do what they need to do to get you treatment. Sitting in your living ro for 12 hours waiting for the correct service to attend your home, or sitting for hours trying to convince you to go in voluntarily is a waste of everyone's time.

He got you out of your house, rightly detained you because you need help and he got you to the hospital all within a matter of minutes.

You're known to them now. You'll be detained when you do this now. Rightly.

Hi, please taken a moment to read my posts - thanks.

And the people on Panorama on Wednesday night had lots of experience too. Maybe time to get a new job love.

I read them . And that's my answer.

You asked my experience and I've told you .

I've probably dealt with more mh patients at this point than you have as a student nurse .

You posted in aibu. My answer is yes you are .

I hope you get he support and help you need but I find myself increasingly frustrated by this type of question. You cut your wrists deep enough to require stitches and cause nerve damage and that's now the fault of the police who detained you to get you the requisite help and support ?

I wish we could just say no - not our job . And this is a prime example of why .

The officer had no choice but to cuff you . Did you still have the blade ? Does that officer know that ? If your mentality unstable enough to cause that kind of damage to your own wrist how does he know you won't go for his jugular?

This is everything that's wrong with mh services and policing today . This should not be the remit of the police and yet the ambulance wouldn't have attended without police back up which you will well know if indeed you are a trainee mh nurse .

That's a pretty nasty way to speak to someone when you're meant to be in training as a mental health nurse, and are currently going through a period of slitting your own wrists.

You're a student. You dont have the experience others do. All students think they know everything, so of course you think you know all you need to. But other people have been in the job decades and they know more than you. Dont speak to them like that.

Focus on yourself and what you need. Focus on getting yourself into a better place. You got a place on a good course. That isnt easy. You just be doing something right. Keep doing it. Focus on you, your needs, your support. And maybe try to be understanding regarding the police. They're spending most of their job dealing with mental health, when they're not trained for this level of involvement. They can spend an entire shift with one person, just waiting on other services to turn up and take over.

This officer got you to a hospital and you got help. They previously saved your life.

What he did wasnt perfect. There are many ways he could have handled it, but his way got you help within minutes without messing around with waiting.

Op, I think opinion is divided between people who don't know much about police procedure who think you should complain, and people who do, who think you shouldn't.

I think it's worth you putting everything in place that you possibly can to ensure you're not in this situation again. It's all well and good that student support are keeping in touch with you, but what are they doing to support you in developing better coping strategies?

While it's good that your director of studies supports you, this is what university staff do. Once someone is on the course, it's quite tricky to kick them out. There will be a 'stay on course' policy to follow.
You can't only rely on that as an indicator of whether you're a good nurse. Listen to people who are saying you need to focus on your recovery.
If you can do that while studying, then that's fab.

Casting around for people to blame isnt the best use of your energy.
I say that as someone who is part of a minorities group who are often mistreated and misunderstood by police.
My solution was to teach police in an appropriate way, rather than complain about them.

Police really are on their knees just now, and repeat callers are a particularly difficult issue to deal with.

People are mentioning burglaries that can't be attended because police are with you, but there will also be calls due to domestic abuse.
Someone could be getting badly harmed and traumatised with no support from police, because there just aren't enough officers to do everything at once.

It sounds like you found the experience distressing, and that's a shame. It also sounds like most of your experiences with police were positive.
You could ask to meet the officer and talk about it with them, rather than complaining. It might help to hear why they acted as they did, and help you to make sense of it. But not everything needs to be a complaint.

*minoritised (autocorrect)

While that must have been distressing for you, they weren't to know you had no history of violence or weren't potentially about to act out (further) with a blade. It was for their protection and your own, I expect.

Agree with you mostly but we were told that approximately 50% of the course wouldn't make it to graduation and 1/3 have already dropped out on year in. Seems pretty easy to chuck people out particularly at the end of the year. We have exams which we have to get 100% to pass on - pretty easy to fail.
And just as a minor point it is the director of professional standards supporting me not director of studies- she answers directly to the NMC, safeguarding boards etc.