Casual Minds Matter say people are turning to them for mental health support
Director Dave Burnett of Casual Minds Matter CIC say people in crisis are turning to it for mental health support as they are struggling to access it through the NHS.
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00:00People are finding that once they've actually reached out and said look I've
00:04got a problem, they're not being able to get the help that they need through
00:10the NHS because of massive waiting lists, lack of staff, whatever the reasons are
00:15and you can be waiting easily six months and possibly 12 months before you
00:21actually receive any, even a phone call, never mind actually get the
00:26treatment that you want and then even then it's sort of a protracted
00:34situation of right okay well we've seen you now it's going to be six weeks
00:39before you get the appointment and then that will be put off and you know you're
00:43just on a merry-go-round as we've just spoke about a bit, getting passed from
00:48pillar to post. The NHS is just not working, they're at crisis point, people
00:53are so desperate for help and they're not getting it, they make
01:00referrals, you could be waiting nine months for an appointment and that's
01:04speaking from personal experience, people are just crying out for help but they
01:09can't get it so in turn doctors as Dave has said, anybody else will refer you to
01:16casual mines because they've not got the facilities so rather than being able to
01:22treat you, it's pass the buck, go to casual mines, see what they can do for
01:27you because they can't. If they send people down here we'll see them straight
01:32away or if we're busy we'll make up appointment for later in the day or the
01:35next day and we've got courses on various aspects of mental health and so
01:41anxiety, PTSD, suicide awareness and prevention, anger management and grief
01:49and they run on a five-week rolling basis so even if you come in here on
01:54Friday and the course you need was on Thursday you'll be able to go on it in
01:57five weeks and there's every chance that it might be next Thursday or the Thursday
02:01after so then people get sorted straight away. People are desperate for this
02:07help, I mean as Dave has said here they're not qualified in any area, I mean
02:11they've got the courses which are run by qualified people but at the end of the
02:14day casual mines aren't doctors, you know, they can't prescribe, you can't come
02:19here and get medication from them, you can't get, you know, yeah they do have
02:25people in the fantastic service and what they do is amazing and thank God they
02:28are here because I don't know where a lot of people will be without casual
02:32mines because obviously the NHS can't provide it and it's going worse.