Hi guys my name is Lauren, and simply I want to help. I have people close to me who suffer with mental illness and I believe that the organisation of Camhs is too difficult to get into. I want to and feel like I need to for my own piece of mind, help those in need. Everyone needs help, everyone wants it no matter how much they deny it. It could take as much as someone trying to commit suicide for camhs to accept their cries for help and that isn’t right. Camh is a great organisation and I appreciate everything they do and achieve but I want more. I think there should be more help out there and I can’t (as much as I’d love to be able to) do this on my own. We need support for these people. We need to help and fight for them. No one should feel alone in this world. Would you help? Do you have any suggestions as to what I could do to help? Please let me know, I’m desperate to do something right.
Responses (4)
First off you are in the U K and I don't know how your mental health services work. If you have access to camhs then go talk to them about volunteer services.
You NEVER do this on your own. You are not qualified and you need, and may be required by law, to have professional back up. You are not authorized to hand out advice without training and being able to ask for advice. You don't want to make a problem worse.
At this point you seem to have a lot of enthusiasm but no training which means you could do administrative work but no patient contact. Ask them what kind of education and training do you need in order to help.
Have you ever considered training and work a suicide hotline?
Unless you've had depression or other mental health issues, been in and completed your therapy, and have had a year or more of positive mental health you are in no condition at this point in time to be handing out advice. You don't know what someone else is going through or how they feel and worse yet, being around that element and atmosphere can cause a burnout and trigger your own issues. It's a slippery road.
Find a mental health clinic and ask
about volunteer opportunities.
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/volunteering/Pages/Howtovolunteer.aspx
There is no condition called "mental illness". That is a code word used people who don't know anything else to call whatever they are talking about. For example, a politician considers anybody who votes against him to be mentally ill. At one time a rich old person was likely to be declared mentally ill so the kids could get the money without having to wait for them to croak.
So you are talking about a non-specific thing and you have no idea what to do about it. That is not an encouraging start. In the UK, authority counts more than a good plan, and you have neither.
First you need education. Study whatever you can find about this condition. The CAMHS website is an example of what I called "code word" above: "CAMHS is used as a term for all services that work with children and young people who have difficulties with their emotional or behavioural wellbeing." IOW they don't know anything, but nobody has actually been accused of a crime yet. You have to do better than that. When people complain to me about "behavioural wellbeing", I tell them to take acting classes to learn new behaviors.
You have to get close to those people suffering from mental illness You can try to get every required meal, clothes, things which are in need. You should support them by everything in which they are in need of. Try to organize some meditation sessions for mental satisfaction.