Hi, I've had depression for four years. It lead to me having to resign
my job as a teacher and has stopped me working all of this year. At age
28, I've had to move back in with my parents or become homeless. At
home, I contribute nothing financially ...
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Hi, I've had depression for four years. It lead to me having to resign
my job as a teacher and has stopped me working all of this year. At age
28, I've had to move back in with my parents or become homeless. At
home, I contribute nothing financially and cost probably $250 in food
and bills. Pretty tough on my parents who are saving for retirement and
have hardly anything put away. Currently, I see my GP, a psychiatrist
and a psychologist. I volunteer, interact with my few friends and family
and take my meds. My mental health care plan ran out ages ago so I've
been paying for the psych out of my own pocket. My GP has been kind
enough to bulk bill, knowing that I'm struggling financially but the
psychologist, which I see weekly, is eating up my money at $130 a pop.
It was very cheap with my mental health care plan. The worst part is the
psychologist is the thing that is really helping. I went through 3
psychologists (3 mental health care consultations gone) before finding
this one who I connected with. It looks like, as things are going, that
I'm going to have to stop working with my psychologist only due to
financial reasons. Last week, I went into centrelink and medicare. I
explained my situation and medicare said they had no assistance for me.
Centrelink put me on New Start even though I don't think I can hold a
job. I skip out on the fire brigade every week or so and that's
something I enjoy doing and with people I know and trust. Never mind
people I don't know. I'm getting my psychiatrist to write a recommended
list of things i can do, hours I can work, etc. What I would like to
know is are there any services left available for me? Is there any way I
can keep my current psych? I really need one on one sessions as the
issues I need to talk about are very difficult for me. I only managed to
tell my current psych by writing it down and still feel uncomfortable
talking to her even though I trust her. Also, my psychiatrist has said
it may be useful to go into an institution for a while. Unfortunately,
the private hospitals are too expensive and public psychiatric
hospitals, according to my friend who works in one, generally only
accept those who are about to kill themselves or hurt someone. Has
anyone in Perth had a different experience? Have they managed to get
into a facility without being a danger either to themselves or others.
Also, was it useful? Thank you for your time, Adrian