On Our Mind
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides integrated healthcare services including intellectual disability, mental health, community health, forensic and offender healthcare services across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire.
Our On Our Minds blog shares lived experiences from colleagues at the Trust and patients who use or have used our services on a variety of topics from a wide range of services.
How school and CAMHS therapy became my place of support
Rue is sharing her story of how school and therapy in the Trust's Children's Mental Health Services (CAMHS), played a big part in supporting her during Covid, processing grief and transitioning from care back to her family home.
Rue's story:
"As with many children and families, Covid knocked everyone's routine and social familiarity", says Rue. "It hit schools up and down the country with new regulations, social distancing, mask wearing, and for many timetables had changed to be in favour of the government advice. Everyone had to re-acclimatise themselves with the new version of 'normal'.
"I was a year 11 student prepping for end of year exams and having the stress of reaching predicted grades. School became very chaotic for me to operate in and on top of Covid this became increasingly harder for me to handle.
"In the midst of all of this change, I and my friendship group suffered heavy grief that took its toll on everyone involved. My school handled this very well and encouraged students to take time for themselves in the rooms they had set up for any student in distress or upset. School became a safe place for myself in my and many others process of grief, providing numbers to crisis lines , text support for the people who preferred a more discreet route and providing counselling sessions for anyone who wished to have one.
"Also, during that time, I was already attending therapy with the Trust's CAMHS, helping me get through the difficulties I had outside of school as I transitioned from being in care to moving back into my family home. Having those sessions with my therapist provided me with a safe space to have my own personhood and autonomy. This helped me find my feet again after years of extensive travelling from Yorkshire to Nottingham and being in a therapeutic placement that didn't provide me with as much freedom of choice as I should've had.
CAMHS therapy helped me achieve a different approach to thinking by simply being a kind ear and a soft place to land.
"Struggles I faced at home, because of the transition, made it more important for me to attend school during Covid, as I'm certain for many, motivation and discipline became harder to pick up and maintain. Due to my rebellious spirit and stubbornness, my mum and I had a very difficult relationship anyway that became increasingly harder during Covid as there was no break or distance apart from one another. Collectively, we decided to attend family therapy sessions with CAMHS as we believed that this would be a step in the right direction to improving our relationship with one another.
"Through this experience, the outcomes were very different individually. However, everyone involved knew that the room they provided for us was to be a judgment free zone and completely inclusive to how we each wanted to do things.
"Eventually those sessions came to a close due to changes in mindset on how to handle our relationship, but we both left with tools on how to navigate disagreements. I believe that due to that, mum and I both know how to respect each other's boundaries and have gone on to individually curate our safe spaces for ourselves apart.
"Through my experience with every challenge I faced in those times, it has highlighted the importance of safety whilst navigating the unknown, having clarity, freedom of choice and most importantly to be heard and supported.
Paying closer attention to giving young people from all walks of life a safe space could make all the difference to how they approach everything that life may throw at them.
Our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services are for people up to 18 years old in Nottinghamshire. If you are a young person (12 to 18 years) who is struggling and needs support, or a parent or carer with a child between 0 and 18, you can self-refer. You can find out more about our service here .
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