how many months is normal to be on a waiting list for counselling...its been 7 months now and i feel they have forgotton about me

[ihatethecold]

I self referred in the New year due to a very stressful year dealing with my adult sons suicide attempts. I had my assessment over the phone at the beginning of March.
They said i had depression and was very stressed and put me on a waiting list for talking therapy.

I was put on the list in march, 4 months ago. Ive not heard anything since.. I have emailed them on monday to ask if i will get any help but I've not had a response.

I really could do with some help. I have also had an assessment in April with a charity that you pay to see someone,they also said I'm on a waiting list.
I cant go private because I'm paying for my teenage DD to see someone weekly.

I don't know what else to do. I'm struggling to work because of stress in my life. I had a month off in March to recover from last year.

In terms of what you can do, you could telephone the service to which you self referred and find out where you are on the waiting list. This might get you information where an email does not.

Other options include

• finding out whether your employer has options available - many big employers fund short-term counseling for their employees. If your mental health is affecting your work your your employer may prefer to support you to stay in work. You could speak to your Occupational Health or HR departments if you have one.
• finding out whether a counselor who works locally to you had a reduce fee place available. Some do.
• Lastly you could speak to the person whom your daughter sees, explain your situation, and ask whether she knows of any resources local to you.

Are any of these ideas helpful to you?

The waiting list for cbt in my area is 8 months but I had the option of online or phone cbt which would be 3 weeks so I grabbed that. I spoke to my doctor about it after I self referred. Could you ask your doctor?
The Samaritans are good to talk to and you can email them if you prefer.

Thank you.
I also self refered to a charity ( which i pay what i can afford) which my GP recommended, they said the wait will be 12 weeks but that was back in april.

My work is only small and since i had the month of march off due to stress/depression i haven't even been contacted by the dept. They did a quick return to work interview and that's it.

I work from home so don't see these people often.

I told the MH well being service that i wanted talking therapy rather than CBT.
That's why its taking longer to be seen.