Mental health patient says she needs more help

LINDSAY Hancox says she has been let down by mental health services for years.

The unemployed 28-year-old from Tewkesbury knows she has mental health problems and is crying out for help.

She believes her problems are getting worse and is worried that her life could deteriorate further.

Having been in trouble with the police on more than one occasion, she wants help to steer her through calmer waters.

She said she was diagnosed as suffering from depression, behavioural problems and having an emotionally unstable personality disorder in 1997.

Lindsay, who lives in Forester's Road, Prior's Park, claims to have had little help since.

She said: "The psychiatrist put me on anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, mood stabilisers and sedatives but since then I've had no real help from the mental health services.

"I've had to rely on my doctors but they keep referring me to psychiatrists who promise you things but never come up with the goods."

In 2007, she spent four-and-a-half weeks in prison.

She was jailed after threatening to stab her former boss at Somerfield in Tewkesbury High Street.

Lindsay, who self-harms, worries that her demons could get the better of her again.

She said: "It's like the devil has taken over my body when I get like that.

"I feel let down by the mental health services in the last 11 years as I haven't had the help or support I have needed.

"My family try to understand but it's not easy on them either. More should be done to help people like me because instead of getting better, I'm getting worse."

She has been to Avon House, a mental health centre in Tewkesbury and to the Milsom Street Day Services centre in Cheltenham, but feels she is not getting the help she needs.

The centres are run by the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, the provider of mental and social health care in Gloucestershire.

Gavin Davies, its assistant director for communications, said: "We are sorry that Ms Hancox feels that she hasn't received the level of care she would hope.

"We can't comment on a specific case. However, we encourage anyone who feels their needs are not being met to contact their care co-ordinator and agree further support and on-going engagement with appropriate services."