Alice (not her real name) lives alone and is prone to anxiety attacks. Something which might be frustrating or inconvenient to most of us – like not having the exact change for the bus fare – can, in Alice, trigger a full blown panic attack.
Alice is usually supported by her community mental health team in Lambeth, south London. But if an anxiety attack strikes at the weekend, the statutory Monday-Friday support isn’t available.
Without family or a social network around her, Alice, distressed and in despair, heads to her accident and emergency department (A&E). After an initial assessment, she can wait for up to four hours to be seen by a psychiatric nurse (and that wait is in an area where people are in need of emergency care, an environment unlikely to do much to calm a distressed mind). Because Alice doesn’t require psychiatric treatment but social and emotional support, when she finally sees someone, she is usually sent home.
But thanks to a new peer support scheme launched by VODG member Certitude, Solidarity in a Crisis, when Alice hits this kind of crisis at a weekend, she can ring a dedicated out-of-hours number and receive valuable help.
