Experiences of Crisis Teams?

you have to know exactly what YOU think will help. They will only have , appointments , admission or drugs

And that's a big part of the problem.  If I knew that I would either have done it myself or bought it in by now.  Plus we already know that appointments, admission or drugs won't help.  

Except...   except...   if I could find an experienced, well trained, neurodivergent expert specialising in family work and knowledgeable about promoting engagement in cases like ours, that might help.  Especially if they could refer on to other specialised autism services as needed.  But that's just a dream.  Sigh...

Generally though, some individualised plan based on compassion, expertise and experience is needed.  And more than that well, I'd have to be an expert myself to know.  

Yes. We need something like this. Me and my son are in crisis now and there’s nothing we can access that actually helps. We feel so lost. I know what we need in many ways but it doesn’t exist (not that I can find or afford anyway). I had to put something on my calendar for later in the year and found myself thinking ‘will I still be here then?’. Not that I want to kill myself it’s just that I can’t go on the way I am - I feel so stressed that it almost feels like it could actually kill me. That probably makes no sense but it does feel like that. I was thinking today that I’d like to take a tablet that let me sleep for a month - so that my brain could have a proper rest. 

Yes. We need something like this. Me and my son are in crisis now and there’s nothing we can access that actually helps. We feel so lost. I know what we need in many ways but it doesn’t exist (not that I can find or afford anyway). I had to put something on my calendar for later in the year and found myself thinking ‘will I still be here then?’. Not that I want to kill myself it’s just that I can’t go on the way I am - I feel so stressed that it almost feels like it could actually kill me. That probably makes no sense but it does feel like that. I was thinking today that I’d like to take a tablet that let me sleep for a month - so that my brain could have a proper rest. 

Yes, we've been locked down in survival mode for a very long time now.  The actual Covid lockdowns have been a top dressing on a situation that was already dire.  I'm exhausted but I can't stop researching and need answers relating to:

severe, chronic burnout (years!)

extreme reclusivity

lifelong sleep issues (not the usual how to get to sleep and stay asleep but rather the physical and psychological damage that seems to take place whenever my son sleeps and can't control his posture (possible hypermobility issues) plus extreme emotions on waking from old patterns and trauma re-emerging every single time

extremely poor hygiene (what on earth to do when an adult is deemed to have capacity but then never washes or cleans teeth)

trauma (incl. intergenerational trauma)

The usual responses, even from autism charities and some advocates, involve turning to services that aren't geared towards autism and which we've already tried.  So many times, the same advice about going to your GP, contacting Mind or Rethink or Crisis Teams or the Samaritans etc etc, until my mind is in a whirl from disbelief that really there's nothing there that helps us. 

I'm aghast to think we're on our own, but it increasingly looks  that way.  I do find some information and upliftment from the work of Aucademy, Ausome Training, Kristy Forbes and Kieran Rose, but much of this still focuses on children and younger adults or on individual experiences which i can't really translate into how to help my adult sons. 

They are doing their best to help themselves, but often in ways that, at least from the outside, seem self defeating and often damaging.  It's very hard to find a way in and I have notepads with increasingly refined formulations that I hope will help.  But basicially all I'm trying to do is love them through it, provide person-centred support and hope for the best.  It doesn't seem to be enough but it's more than my parents had.   

I wish I had more and I wish I could offer more help. 

I’ve worn myself out - I’ve had years and years of trying to get help for my son (and mainly failing),  then trying to find ways to help myself because I was so burnt out and stressed. These last two years of pandemic haven’t helped. Well - the first year wasn’t so bad (at first we quite liked the lockdown as it was good to not have to engage with anyone or go anywhere) but the second year has been horrendous. I’ve always researched and researched for ways to get us though but we always seem to be in survival mode rather than actually thriving. 

I have very similar feelings.  I often think that I can't bear any more, but then I somehow keep on going, always looking out for something which might help.  I wonder whether I've somehow been trained to expect an expert for whatever physical or mental health issues we face.  We're always encouraged to seek help, after all.  So I keep on seeking, even when there's nothing there.  This even drives me to imagine that the Crisis Team might be better this time, I feel so desperate.  

I sometimes reflect, though, that many of the issues my sons are facing are also somehow within me.  Maybe they've manifested in different ways, but the underlying feelings might be the same.  So even while I'm looking for external help, I'm also drilling down into myself.  Maybe somewhere I have an "inner expert" who already knows quite a bit but is unused to articulating and applying it.  I only discovered that I'm autistic just over 3 years ago, after all, but my unrecognised autistic experience has obviously been building up all my life.  I suspect I need to really tap into that.