I have started this petition because it is so hard to access the right (or any) care, support and treatment under NHS mental health care and I am talking specifically about those stuck in the system, otherwise known as Secondary Care Mental Health Services (or even those who should be referred because they are severe too but are not accepted). These are meant to be professionals and specialised in helping those with mental illnesses and are expected to provide a service and with good care and treatment and the correct care and treatment for each individual. We are not a label or a number, we are each a human being and there seems to be nothing "person centred" about any care you actually provide.

I can only talk from my own experiences mainly across the Essex area with EPUT services (formerly NEPFT), both as inpatient (far too many times) and outpatient, across many wards, community teams, crisis and home treatment teams etc. I have been stuck in this awful system for just under 9 years and I am the worst I have ever been. 

We are constantly neglected, mistreated, physically, mentally and emotionally abused, punished, blamed, again and again. We are dismissed, even when actively suicidal. We are not taken seriously. There is no prevention or community intervention. They wait until it is too late and only when concerned for themselves/their job being on the line. In recent years I have unfortunately worked with mostly heartless, cold, uncaring, inexperienced, unknowledgable, lazy, reluctant and those with bad attitude problems. People that do not know what they're doing, could not care less, will never listen or take you seriously to the point you don't have a voice, and they do not know what they're talking about. Unless people have ever been a victim of this, they could never even imagine what many of us have to go through and put up with.

Misdiagnosis is a common problem that happens all the time. These so called "professionals" make snap judgements and decisions based on how you present yourself, how you look, your history and often within a matter of a couple of minutes. They don't give you their time and they will never listen to your feelings or your views on your care. They aren't interested in you. If offered anything at all, everything is dictated and decided by them. You get no say in anything. You have no voice.

Waiting lists for psychology can be as long as 18 months-2 years onwards. What good is that when someone needs it urgently?!

You don't get a say or a choice when it comes to Care Coordinators even when at times you are given people who are clearly not equipped or appropriate to help you and there is no trust in your relationship, the same applies with your Consultant, your Community Mental Health Team and any wards you end up on. All these decisions are made about you and for you and often automatically based on where you live/your postcode and you cannot just get a new Care Coordinator, or Consultant, or team, or mental health Trust. You are stuck and often have no other alternatives such as support from Local Minds or other therapy services locally who will tell you that you "do not fit their criteria and you are too complex, severe and high risk." Other therapy centres will claim there is no funding available. There are no other options so you remain stuck and continue to suffer and deteriorate because those responsible are repeatedly failing you.

Plus any care or treatment offered (if any) again, is just decided, even when it's often clearly the wrong type and the wrong approach. You get no voice and you are not heard. You are not taken seriously and even when actively suicidal you are completely dismissed. They only care about themselves and their own jobs being on the line, they do what's convenient for them and not what's ever in the best interests of the patient. You don't work together, it's them against you. There is no partnership. How can people like us have faith or trust in people like that?

I think these professionals should basically treat us how they would want themselves or their own loved ones to be treated if they ever ended up mentally ill, sectioned etc. Instead they want to treat us as if we're completely worthless and don't matter and dismiss us all the time. The neglect, mistreatment and abuse they often give us I'm sure they wouldn't want the same for themselves or their own family members. It's not acceptable on any level.

When will they ever listen, take us seriously, act appropriately, give us real options, and change for the better? When will huge and significant improvements be made to prevent the inevitable for many of us as it stands...we are going to die and our lives cut short in such a tragic way, because we are constantly failed by those that are responsible for providing us with appropriate care and treatment which rarely ever happens and even in cases like mine where laws are meant to be in place to protect us and ensure we are always having our care needs met (e.g. by Section 117 Aftercare) when it's rare they ever make any efforts to follow those type of laws. Most won't even do the bare minimum of what they're paid to do. Finding someone who cares, who is willing to help, seeing you regularly, having someone you can trust, someone approachable, and someone who will listen, take your views and feelings into account, take you seriously and have a good attitude and the right approach...not much to ask when this should all be a given for those choosing to work in these professions (that often don't deserve to be working in these professions anyway) with vulnerable and extremely mentally unwell people. It seems extremely rare to get decent care from good people and seems to have rapidly deteriorated in more recent years.

Call the Crisis Team when you're in an actively suicidal state only to be given a few minutes of their time and for them to tell you to "have a cup of tea" or "have a bath." What did those people actually learn in their training and at university?! We need CLINICAL help and advice as we are suffering from CLINICAL ILLNESSES. We need you to listen to us and take us seriously and come up with options and suggestions and act appropriately and urgently. HELP US, NOT GET US OFF THE PHONE AS QUICK AS YOU CAN AND ONLY EVER DO WHAT'S MOST CONVENIENT FOR YOURSELVES.

I am tired of fighting for everything I'm already entitled to but never being offered or given it. I'm tired of being another victim and all that I've explained happening again and again. Please remember the amount of courage it can take someone to admit they are at risk or seriously considering suicide. Dismissing us or locking us away and throwing away the key is not going to help anyone and only make things worse. If you want to save money, focus on all you can do to help us and prevent crisis situations in the community.

If things don't change rapidly and for the better, with significant improvements made, these major failings will continue and many of us will lose our lives because we were failed and didn't get what we needed. Every single time this happens it's a tragedy. A life lost when it didn't have to end like that if only people just did their jobs, and family and friends left hugely affected and forever heartbroken.

I have lost close friends in both the community and in "places of safety" when this mental health trust in particular in those cases, were responsible and their deaths were very much avoidable. It's hard to forgive them for that.

I am pleading with the NHS and the Government to make mental health care, especially those stuck in the mental health system and in secondary care services making them the most severe cases and at highest risk, a huge priority. The suicide rates in this country speaks volumes. The amount of times people are voluntarily admitted or most often sectioned when those places are usually worse than prisons, and are not the answer and not only is so much money wasted, but so much trauma can be caused by doing this because of what goes on behind those closed doors that most can't even begin to imagine unless they too have also been a victim in the same kind of ways I have been. If only these professionals really focused on prevention and options in the community and did all they could to help us. That will save the most money and most importantly the most lives. I'm done with excuses and I'm done with being a victim of having either no care or awful care again and again and again.

Thank you to anyone in support of this, for signing, sharing and for anyone that does take this seriously and acts promptly and appropriately.

Enough is enough. Enough people have died in these tragic ways because they were failed over and over again. So many of us are on our knees at at high risk yet we aren't a priority or taken seriously or given any real help. People like us need the right help and care and we need it NOW...not when it is too late.

I'm speaking from my own experiences and on behalf of anyone else who has been a victim like I have been. I can only hope, wish and pray that major improvements are made for people like us. We desperately need as many signatures as possible for this to get taken seriously and action to be taken for the better so please please sign, and share.

Please remember I will just be one of many. There are so many of us victims in these positions across the country. This could be YOU, or a close friend or family member at any given time. Mental illness can occur in anyone at any given time. So please sign, share and support this and I'd be so grateful. Things have to change.

Thank you.