So here we are again — another chapter in my ongoing saga with the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT). You’d think after years of battling for support, explaining my diagnoses, and spelling out my needs in bullet points, someone in the NHS machine might actually read what I write. But no.
This week, CMHT decided that the best recommendation for me — someone already diagnosed with autism, BPD, and OCD, someone in crisis, someone who meets nearly every “complex, high-risk” criteria in their handbook — was… drumroll… a private autism assessment company.
Yes, really.
Affirming Autism, to their credit, replied politely and said, “Er, we just do assessments. You already have one. We can’t help.” They even seemed baffled at why I was sent there. Imagine being so bad at your job that a completely unrelated organisation has to tell your patient that your referral makes no sense.
This isn’t a small oversight. This is dangerous. I am being excluded from care — not because my needs don’t meet CMHT criteria, but because I have autism. That’s discrimination. The Equality Act says so. NICE guidelines say so. Basic human decency says so. And yet here I am, still shut out, still unsupported, still expected to just “cope” while my mental health deteriorates.
And before anyone thinks I’m just whinging without solutions, I literally sent them a detailed list of what would actually help me:
* Care navigator to help me get through the brick walls of social prescribing
* Regular contact with a mental health nurse
* EMDR therapy adapted for autism
* Respite support so I don’t burn out from toxic family dynamics
* Independent living skills training because dyspraxia makes daily life harder
* Specialist gender & sexuality support
* Dietician and exercise advice to offset medication weight gain
* Strategies for medication-related fatigue
* Guidance for relationships and daily living challenges
It’s not like I’m asking for a unicorn and a palace. These are reasonable, evidence-based adjustments that could keep me stable and safe. Instead, I got a Google search result dressed up as a “recommendation.”
The message is clear: in their eyes, autism is a reason to discharge me, not a reason to support me. And that’s not just negligence, it’s systemic discrimination hiding behind bureaucracy.
I’m tired. I’m angry. And I’m done quietly accepting this, what's your suggestions on how I can protest this issue?
They also said they don't support people wirh personality disorders unless it's a step down from a section 3 hospital stay, but this goes against the information on the website of NHS England and Mind.
Whilst at university I had weekly meetings with a DSA mentor for my autism and mental health conditions, as well as regular meetings with a wellbeing advisor and a complex student support plan in place. I hoped for a continuation of care via the NHS, but looks like that isn't gonna happen...
