issues with uc and being in limited for work group

[masterofdoom]

i'm in limited for work group on universal credit due to poor mental health i have activities i'm required to do which until today were always 12 hours or a few hours a week but today i had an appointment with my advisor told her i was struggling mentally after my meds were increased from 50 mg to 100 mg and i had been referred to a mental health nurse she tells me that i've to continue doing my activities for a few hours a week and that i had to accept my commitments or no money so i read through my commitments and my commitments have been increased from 12 hours to 20 hours a week after me just telling her i was struggling and wasn't sleeping its as if it went in one ear and out the other so i'm unsure what to do

It has been that way for a long time. You are only under secondary services now if you are having treatment such as therapy or meds as depot.
Charities pick up a lot of the slack now.

Yeah, I've just seen the new announcement.

2 of my clients that I've seen this afternoon have been waiting for reassessment to be moved to the lcrwa group for over a year. I guess that won't happen now. I wish they'd stop screwing people around like this.
'we'll only impoverish new claimants'
It's not really a positive message is it?

Better than nothing I guess! Thanks for the confirmation, it's what my friends at the DWP have said too.

What have psychological support services said? Surely you have a mental health nurse/support worker if you're so severe you can't work? Aren't they trying to help you access the support you don't want to go to?

There often isn't much support available. MH services are short of money and staff. I've been working with clients with MH problems for 18 years, and people who would have had regular appointments with a CPN 10-12 years ago now get next to no support.

My brother is bipolar. He's not compliant when it comes to medication, so has a monthly depot injection. If it wasn't for the fact that he has to go and get his shot, he'd hardly ever see anyone from his MH team. He's in and out of there in 5 minutes, and they never have time to find out anything about how he's living. He hasn't seen a psychiatrist for years.

I think that may be down to the work coach.

UC gives work coaches a huge amount of discretion, so there's a lot of variation in how people are treated. There's variation between job centres, too. There are two in the area I take referrals from who are very strict about what they require claimants to do (including making one client, who has health conditions that meant she should have been shielding, attend weekly job centre appointments through all but the strictest Covid restrictions).

CMHT doesn't exist anymore where I am. It's community recovery instead (CMHRS) who do short term interventions.
So after an inpatient admission they have to see you within 7 days of discharge.
I was discharged from them at that point. I think they see people for a month usually & up to 6 months max.
Still under a psychiatrist seen every 6 months but other than that GP.

Also IAPT & other talking therapies will exclude people with more serious illnesses eg history of mania or psychosis.

I think it's great that there is a lot more support for anxiety & depression etc & people can get help for those things but everyone misses the fact that support & treatment for severe mental illness is often non existent.

See what lakielady said just after me.

You should be ok in Scotland, everything I've seen says they're more understanding.
My local job centres are in the south, and I've had clients referred to me already as they can't deal with what they're being asked to do in the last 2 weeks. My clients are all over 50 and i help them with claims for benefits.

My best guess is that this will be used as evidence that the government have already got xyz claimants to do more. To either justify a climb down on the new bill in parliament or to forge ahead with it.

They can't make you do what you cant do however, so pleased do reach out for support from various groups if youre struggling. Google health support followed by your town or county.

It doesn't actually MEAN anything.

My cynical hat makes me think they're trying to persuade claimants to sort themselves out before the bill goes through parliament. Just for statistical purposes.

You do you and concentrate on you. If you're open to working, great! Ask for more support to help you achieve that.
If you can't, it's probably a good idea to make sure your paperwork is in order, you have the details of social and support workers you're in contact with and to check your commitments you've made if you claim UC. You will be fine.

i said a couple of my advisors said that not you thats why i say the jobcentre arent perfect

This is what you said to me - "so lets not pretend jobcentre staff or the benefits system is perfect". I did not say that and before you said this I said nothing at all about JobCentre staff. I was "pretending" nothing because I said nothing.

thats the post i was responding to when i said about the way i had been treated by staff at jobcentre some have made it more difficuilt than its had to be so that impacts on somebodys dignity thats why i said jobcentre staff arent perfect its sad that some staff at jobcentre treat claiments like dirt im sure some of them see claiments as the scurge of the earth and scroungers then were supposed to tell them all our personal stuff so thats the issue i have there will always be some staff like that at the jobcentre and yet when ive complained ive been taken into a room by a manager my file scattered all over floor (no joke) she spoke down to me because of how long i had been on limited for work program nothing said about complaint then i was put on a course to supposedly help with my mental health and the main focus was working on my cv interview techneques how to do job applications etc that has nothing to do with mental health

The JC are asking you to go out to groups to help your mental health though. Not to present yourself to employers. Sometimes we have to help ourselves.

As a taxpayer, I get really narked at people who get paid my tax as welfare benefits and they don't want to help themselves to create a better future.

Quite often people who are mentally ill CAN'T help themselves, that's part of their illness, that they can't even think about creating a better future for themselves, going to group therapy etc It's an effort for them just to get out of bed and get through the day. They are ill and it doesn't matter who's taxes are paying their benefits, it's very hard for them to get motivated because the whole point is that they are mentally ill!

You should be doing those things recommended. There isn't a health professional out there that wouldn't advise them as being a good thing to improve your mental health and ultimately return to the workforce.

A lot of those groups are just social things. The one I go to is just full of people doing colouring in and playing Bingo. They help those of us with mental health difficulties feel less isolated. They dont help us get jobs.

and as ive said i go to groups i volunteer its not as if i sit at home all day doing nothing as some would believe stop making assumptions and stop with the hollier than though attitude talking about being a tax payer and because im on benefits i have no right to expect any sort of privacy so where do you get off telling people like me i dont want to help myself?

Tick-box exercises for the DWP.

Are you proud of that comment?
What did it add to this thread?

It's a lack of basic decency being displayed, and isn't necessary or relevant.

Nothing. I've reported it.

But you are doing less on the higher dose than you were doing on the lower dose. Honestly if it’s making you feel this bad go back and ask them to adjust your dose again or try something different.

I had really bad insomnia, I tried drugs, bedtime routine changes, I ended uo with this weird nocturnal eating problem, my whole body was a bloody mess, my sleep cycles were awful. The thing that helped was literally sitting in the sun at 7am, it took a few weeks to work but it did help. I think it helped to reset my circadian rhythm. I was fucking exhausted and miserable and could barely function by this point. I’m not saying this will fix it but it’s worth a try.

so is your attitude