To be upset that MH provider had no experience in MH?

[feelfooled]

I recently had a session with a MH provider from a major charity. It was the initial session and the questionnaire I had to answer was very personal and involved me revealing things I have not told anyone.
She asked some additional very personal and exposing questions. I found her cold and clinical and she sounded very young. I have found her rigid, inflexible and lacking understanding or compassion in a further encounter. I have looked her up on Linked in and she has no listed professional experience or qualification in mental health at all. She has an admin background and customer service background from a major retailer. SHe has been in this post only 6 months.
The course I would have done with her was structured but it still requires a lot of intimate sharing.

I feel really exposed and vulnerable and frankly humiliated to have shared my greatest vulnerabilities with someone with no MH training. The things I told her are things I find difficult to admit to myself - they are most personal, vulnerable things about me. I haven't even told my closest friends. Frankly her background in admin and customer service completely makes sense of her cold efficiency no-nonsense attitude. Which may be great for admin but not for dealing with people suffering great distress and trauma like myself.

I have done another structured course with someone from this charity and they were a trained counsellor and brilliant. I would never have embarked on this course or shared so much if I had realised this new person had no MH training or experience. I feel really cheated by the charity. I feel I should have been told the course was taught by someone with no qualifications or experience in MH so that I could decide whether to proceed ( I wouldn't have).

WIBU to make a complaint to the charity?. TBH I am already struggling to cope and this experience has knocked me further, destroyed my trust in the charity and also means I am no longer prepared to get the help from them I desperately need. I don't know where to turn now.

Most people know that nowadays if you ring the GP surgery you'll have to give details of your condition to the receptionist in order for your call to be directed appropriately

Exactly though. You know this is the case. Because you are informed about it. Our surgery has posters making clear you do not have to give details of your condition to the receptionist and will still be seen if you do not. You are informed.

I was not. This woman didn't even limit herself to just the questions on the form, she asked supplementary questions of her own, as if she were a trained therapist, which caused me to expose very intimate things that cause me utter shame, things I do not tell anyone in my own life. Then she had no idea how to handle what I said to her at all, let alone with empathy or professionalism.

I'm really angry about it. I should have been told she was not qualified, and this was essentially someone going through the paperwork of the course, rather than being allowed to believe she was qualified to handle what I disclosed, as the women delivering the last course with them was.

Is it a training course or is it counselling? If training then she probably is admin. If counselling yes make a complaint but don't rely on LinkedIn information, most of my qualifications aren't there so I don't get inundated with contacts.

Its not training. Its a mental health intervention but themed on a specific topic, rather than general counselling. The last one I did, which was less intensive than this one would have been, was delivered by a qualified counsellor and she was brilliant. Her linked in was updated at least just 6 months ago as that is how long she has been in the job.

I have had a lot of MH support from a variety of statutory and charity organisations over the last five or so years, so I do have a good baseline of how such professionals work and relate to their clients. And this woman was nothing like that.

@CorrBlimeyGG

The outsourced NHS CBT provider in my area uses untrained call centre staff to do the initial paperwork session. Most patients are then offered an online CBT course, with no interaction with a mental health professional.

My area, too. I did have an initial phone call with someone who I have never spoken to or heard from again and who is now listed as my "supporter" on the online course. I know they're very busy but it fucks me off each time I see her name. Also not helped by the fact she also sounded extremely cold. I cried when I put the phone down on her because I actually felt really judged and a nuisance.

I don't know about a complaint OP, but why don't you see if you can discuss some concerns with the charity and make her manner part of that talk? You can bring it to their attention rather than just "complain".

@FrownedUpon

Why are you stalking her on LinkedIn. Poor woman. It’s highly unlikely the charity would be employing her if she’s had no MH training at all. Why don’t you check with the charity.

If you want to pay for MH input, you’ll get more options on who you work with you.

How is looking at someone's LinkedIn profile stalking them fgs? And a lot of people can't afford to see someone privately, unsurprisingly

OP you're not being unreasonable. Our local IAPT service is now being run by an organisation with no mh experience. I assume they're cheap

@FrownedUpon

Why are you stalking her on LinkedIn. Poor woman. It’s highly unlikely the charity would be employing her if she’s had no MH training at all. Why don’t you check with the charity.

If you want to pay for MH input, you’ll get more options on who you work with you.

Well that’s a lovely compassionate attitude.

Also not helped by the fact she also sounded extremely cold. I cried when I put the phone down on her because I actually felt really judged

Yes, this! Especially the additional questions she asked, for someone with no bloody qualifications or experience to ask those questions, and then to just go ' hmph' when I answer, after I tell her the things I am most ashamed of and humiliated by. And I assumed she asked as this was something she would work with me on ( still thought she was a trained counsellor at this point). But now it appears she was just being bloody nosy, gets me to expose all that stuff and then just does nothing with it! How dare she!

I think you should definitely feed back to the charity, OP. It's not just about her training and qualifications--it sounds like she was a very poor fit for you personally, and might be a very poor fit for a majority of clients if she comes across as cold and lacking empathy (things which might still apply if she had training!). Is there any possibility they can switch you to someone you "click" with better?

In that case yes you should complain and ask to be changed to another counsellor however I repeat LinkedIn does not mean she isn't qualified.