How can I reach out for help

[Coffeemadness]

I have been feeling down and lost all my interest. I have got no joy in my life, I would like to seek some help.

Should I reach out to GP or my employer medical insurance has free mental health support- should I use them ? I am worried if it will be on my employment record forever ? If I do via insurance will it be a problem while I am taking a personal medical insurance in the future - that I have to declare I have depression and thereby increasing the premium

I have been thinking about all these for quite sometime and putting off from seeking help. My GP surgery reception are not helpful at all. Kind of lost of how to get help next

Any help would be appreciated 🤗

Definitely start with the gp.

If you are in the uk you may be able to self refer to IAPT here

www.nhs.uk/service-search/mental-health/find-an-nhs-talking-therapies-service

Which gives access to various types of therapy

It won't affect your job. Go see your GP who will more than likely throw meds at you and refer you to a MH professional. Some surgeries have a self referal to MH so ask at yours.

If you know why you are feeling like this look up help for the issue online. Take it from there. You may also be able to self refer to the local MH service.

If you ring your local crisis line they may action this too.

Don't stuggle with an illness that can be treated. X

Hope you start to feel a little better each day my friend. X

Yes, start with GP. They can offer medication and referrals to the CMHT if they feel that is appropriate.
Good luck x

As @parietal said, you can self refer to IAPT, no need to go via GP.

You can speak to the GP if you want, meds can be a useful bolster, and if there is more than you are comfortable sharing on Mumsnet they might be able.to say if you are better off with IAPT or secondary mental health services.

If you want to try something without the waiting list, your local library will have wellbeing books, used to be called "books on prescription", which are a self-help book based on evidence based models (I.e. "Overcoming Depression" -the "Overcoming [problem]" books were specifically written for the NHS and initially at least went through an efficiency trial. The Depression one is written by Paul Gilbert, who is excellent).

There are just the freely available options. I don't know too much about therapy through insurance. They would not be allowed to break confidentiality and inform your employer though (even to say you are having treatment, I would assume). IAPT and other NHS services would result in a medical record which would just as equally influence future insurance, however I don't know that Depression has that much impact, particularly if this is a first time treatment and has not required in-patient treatment or A &E involvement... it's going to be a fairly common complaint surely. Hopefully someone with more knowledge about insurance can tell you for sure.

Go with whichever you feel most comfortable, workplace might be the quicker route though.

Regardless of whether you go via work or GP though it will be something you have to declare for future personal insurance, so don’t let that sway you either way.

Go to your GP in the first instance.

I work for an insurance company and we do health insurance too. I also 1sts from UCL in Medical Ethics and Employment Law. If you use your insurance, this will NOT be on your employment record, these are two COMPLETELY different things so you needn’t worry about this at all. Whether you use your insurance or not, if you take out insurance in the future you will have to declare pre-existing anyhow so it doesn’t make a difference whether you were diagnosed on NHS or privately.

If your GP can’t help you, ask your insurance provider if they will cover an assessment with a Consultant Psychiatrist. That’s where the real help will come in.

with love xx

Thanks for your kind messages. They truly mean a lot 💓Even my DH was not so empathetic as you ppl are.
I will do a self referral to iapt as the first thing.

I have a 7 year old and I am pregnant with the next one. I always worry and become anxious if they will take away my kid if I am diagnosed and treated for depression that I am not capable of taking care of my DS. Is that possible? I don't have any suicidal thoughts or self harmed myself.

Nope! It takes a lot to remove a child and is specifically done on child welfare, not parental diagnosis, and anxiety and depression are so common if they did take kids away for that reason the care system would implode

They will ask about your kids welfare, possibly. They have to, to get the full picture and because very rarely families do need extra support. Even then, it's usually signposting to support rather than taking away

I have worked with parents with anxiety and depression, PTSD or other conditons and have not yet had to make a referral for child safeguarding. Please do not worry about this.

Hi, I also have a private medical insurance ( HSF) via my employer. From my experience, any counselling sessions are highly confidential.

Please, definitely reach out for help. Do you need to go via HR or can you just contact the insurance directly? You can also mention that you are looking for Counselling sessions due to a private matter ( if need to go through your employer’s channels). The rest will be confidential, where only your counsellor will be aware of the situation.

In my case, the info was never shared between my employer and medical insurance. I just called my private healthcare and had an initial session over the phone and had 6 sessions with a new designated counsellor after that. They tend to outsource the Counselling Service. I have a bit of knowledge on how this is done as used them every year and my Counsellor explained how this works.

Please look after yourself. Employment laws are quite strict, and the company must support you. I understand, however, that sharing info with the employer can be counterintuitive ( I did not). Regarding serious self-harm, any Counsellor has a duty of care to share this information, but it has to be something very serious.

Also, please check if you can upgrade your employer’s cover with the health insurance directly for a better cover and more options. However, even a basic cover should cover the counselling services.

My experience with GP was generally positive too, however, they tend to prescribe antidepressants and treat the symptoms, rather than treating the underlying cause.

I hope you have a good solution soon. Maybe a holistic approach ( both GP and private route) would work the best.

Sending love!

Hi op. I'm a therapist in the nhs. With you being pregnant you really should be mentioning to the midwife and gp. They may feel you are suited for the specialist perinatal team or more likely you'll be referred to your local nhs talking therapy team. As you're pregnant you will be prioritised. They'll help you, I really can't see them considering your depression a safe guarding issue. Please reach out help is there and people are willing to help 😁 good luck