Mental health nurse receiving CBT?

[asblackasyoursoul]

Hi everyone, I'm having a bit of a worry.
I'm a mental health nursing student who suffers anxiety, always have. I am on sertraline which is doing wonders for me. Around 2 years ago when I went to the doctors about panic attacks, they signed me up for CBT.
Yesterday a woman came to the door with a letter sent to the wrong address, of an appointment for CBT dated last week which I obviously didn't attend, and a further letter dated a few days ago saying about how I didn't attend, to contact them etc.

Now here's the dilemma. The CBT is located in the same mental hospital I am going on placement to next week. I am quite worried about this as I assume I am going to get to know these people on a 'work' level and I don't know if it's appropriate for me to receive CBT from the same people.

I am due a review of my Sertraline anyway so I plan to make a doctor's appointment and discuss with them about it.

I am a bit stuck for advice from friends because they haven't been in my situation.
Can anyone please advise?

1. you aren't the first person working in mental health to have received therapy. It can be quite a vocational thing.

2. they should understand confidentiality, by which I mean that no one should ever ask you about it and they shouldn't be discussing you behind your back if they do happen to see you.

That said, I can see why you feel this way. It's understandable that you don't want your therapist and course supervisor to be the same person.

Your appointment letter should have been sent from the therapist you are due to see. I think your best bet may be to ring them directly (assuming you still want to receive the therapy) and explain the situation - are there any arrangements they could make to ensure your confidentiality - e. g. could they meet with you at a different site? Or could you be referred to a different hospital?

I'm a mental health nurse and at many staff members have mental health problems and are receiving treatment or have done in the past. With the nature of the job most are very open and talk about it.

I would turn up and discuss it with the therapist and see what they suggest.

Thank you for your reply tableclothing. I am of course going to ring the therapist's number and explain presumably to the receptionist about the mix up, and that I'd like to hang fire until I can see my doctor as I do need to see them anyway so maybe best to just discuss with them.

I know there is a huge stigma around mental health, I always talk about how I want to remove that stigma in being a MH nurse but I am struggling against the stigma of it myself in this situation.
It's so silly - as I said to my partner last night, I wouldn't have thought anything of it if I was doing Adult nursing and was based in a hospital ward, and had to go and see someone there about an injury - the stigma around MH is rubbish

NerrSnerr, thank you. That is very reassuring to hear!

If you are worried, depending on the service they can see you at another location (eg your GP practice) but it is very dependent on the size of the service and if they have slots already at other sites, it’s a logistical challenge as oppose to anything else. But it is possible and you can ask.

I would speak to your GP about it - or speak to the service manager. They should have a reciprocal arrangement in place with other local services so that you can receive therapy elsewhere. If you do receive it where you’re on placement they will lock down your records and confidentiality will be carefully thought about. It wouldn’t be appropriate for you to have therapy from someone you work closely with, but if it was someone distant in the department who you have little contact with it would be doable.

Personally I think having therapy as an RNMH should be compulsory. I love my therapist.

If you don't want to do it with people you are on placement with then delay until you've finished placement maybe? I can see why it might be awkward to build a rapport.

Just a gentle note, most people don't refer to our places of work as "mental hospitals" anymore 😉