Written evidence submitted by Mr Stuart Smith (CMH0006)

Mental Health Inquiry

I am writing this, in my capacity of a long-term NHS patient of 47 years. Having faced many difficulties and social issues in my life, as well as kidney failure. Now at 57 having reflected on my physical and mental health over the years. I feel it might be of some benefit to the inquiry, that I pass on my findings of mental health services.

I found mental health services to be far too generic in their approach over the years. It was as if they had to give you some kind of label, put you in a pigeonhole, based on their training. The whole approach is a one-way clinical approach, with little or no lived experience of what we face. Experience as a patient with organ failure, made me realise what had worked for me with my kidney failure, is what also worked with my mental health.

Talking and listening to others with a shared commonality, in two-way conversation, is what helped me more than any other mental health service. This also made sense to me, as it was the same with my organ failure. Yet I found that peer support was so often, the forgotten side of mental health support. It was as if patients themselves and the experience we all have, was somehow ignored by mental health professionals. Did they find us a threat maybe? Not sure, but it was clear to me, that we were not seen as experts in our own right. As we departmentalise and solve the puzzle of why, with our mental health. How we learn to use our adversity as a strength. How we become resilient and independent, not relying on the default mental health services.

There was and I believe is, far too much control over the mental health of patients, forming hierarchy’s and assuming this is what the patients needs. I don’t believe that is what works best for patients. Whilst it is about whatever works for the individual. We should not ignore the lived experience of patients and how they can open the door, to a far better understanding of our mental health. As a long-term patient, it is time to perhaps think about patients themselves, being part of multi-disciplinary teams.

December 2024