Your questions answered

Your questions answered Can I be referred to the clinic if I don’t live in Devon ... ? What should I expect at the assessment? Tell me more about living in a social role that matches my ... gender identity Will I be offered hormone therapy? Do I have to have surgery? ...

Jessica's story

adjustments’, helped me to feel comfortable and less worried.” My name is Jessica. I ... or restricting my eating. I can become very anxious in new situations, or with people I do ... not know. Bad things have happened to me in the past. People supporting me need to know that this is why I ... have difficulty trusting people, especially men, but I do not want to talk about this in detail ... . I have a ‘Safety Plan’ which I was helped to write in the past. This is helpful ...

Richie's story

Richie's story Slowly but surely I am recovering. Mum and I get on well now ... in the army. By the time I was 15 Mum had overdosed twice, their divorce had come through and ten years ... later I was smoking and drinking heavily, five pints of Carling daily. It came to a head in 2006. I ... errors and I ran up £1000 on a credit card on drink alone. For a while, I stopped living at all ... . But I was sick of being a slave to the drink and cigarettes and decided at the New Year to make ...

Daisy's story

Daisy's story I am no longer a user of mental health services, but I have the support ... of my family and friends and I have found effective ways to stay happy and express my emotions ... safely. The first time I hurt myself I remember it feeling like all the painful feelings inside ... of me being let out; as it by tearing open my skin they were being set free. I had stopped wanting ... to be near anyone else because I felt that I hurt them and they hurt me so what was the point, I’d ...

All she wants is a healthy mummy

All she wants is a healthy mummy I came to a point in my life and realised eight years had ... passed when I had been controlled by my eating disorder.  I was really weak and at my lowest ... point so needed to recover for my daughter and be a proper mum to her.  Every time I looked ... at my daughter it hurt so much knowing all she wanted was a healthy mummy.  So I finally accepted ... the admission to The Haldon and I can honestly say it’s the best decision I’ve made.  ...

I was lucky....

I was lucky….. Places are so rare, but I was lucky to be given the option and chose ... to step onto another path in life other than the one I had trodden before. I think coming ... to The Haldon was the right move for me. Being such an abnormal weight is dangerous.  I’ve ... explore my feelings in a safe place. I have begun to look at more helpful ways of living, alongside ... restoring my weight – slowly I have become a person again, finding and exploring the real me ...

James

the Exeter CITY Community Trust through this involvement.  “I have multiple issues &ndash ... ; visual and physical impairment and Asperger’s syndrome.  I’ve always felt very self ... is judging anyone – and that’s why I wanted to come back.  Having a proper organised ... thing gets you out.  When you have Asperger’s I’m not a naturally social person ... – i’s everything that most people do subconsciously I have to do manually.  I have ...

Shane

at the time in Cornwall.  I had a call from my brother saying that she had died, taken her own ... life.  “I was off work for a few months, and returned two months after which ... was a bad idea – it was too early.  I carried on for three years afterwards but eventually lost ... my job, through the stress of it all.  I had my first proper meltdown at work and knew I couldn ... ’t carry on any more. “I began taking cannabis, and split up from my partner ...

John's story

John's story Somewhere out there I hope there is a set of conversations that can help me ... to come to terms with what my life is and what I have become. I am John and this is the tip ... the Dore illustrations that are my constant companions. Now I am back in the place where I was born ... , trying to make sense of it all. I was more than usually sensitive and empathic as a child ... and happy outcomes.  By the age of 12 I was having strange, seemingly otherworldly experiences ...

Craig

;About six years ago I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis which means I can’t run.  From ... there I started having problems mentally, anxiety and panic attacks because I wasn’t doing ... football.  I put on three and a half stone straight away, but mentally it’s the worst thing ... . “Over the course of two or three years I became more and more anxious.  I’d been ... having panic attacks since my late 20s so this wasn’t new to me – I thought this was just ...

Ben

mental and physical health. “I wanted to get back into fitness.  My mental health had been ... into fitness sounded attractive, and I was self-aware enough to realised I needed some encouragement ... . “I was probably in my late teens when I had my first experience of poor mental health ... , and it’s stayed with me on and off throughout the years.  Over the years I’ve learned ... . “I’ve recently seen a therapist as over Christmas my mum passed away – I was just ...