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Farout2016
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Isolated with lack of services available for daughter labeled with Bpd

We live in a 200 km from a regeonal town and 16 hours to Brisbane.

Daughter was labeled with Bpd 12 months ago and will be 20 this year.

She was prescribed medication which went well at first ; then she decided it wasn't helping so she stopped taking it.

She has been self harming and when I take her to help, there is no help.

We have full private health cover and have looked into many recommend dbt programs but 5 doctors already seen will not refer her to a private clinic and one doctor said to me, the public system will not promote the private system although there is basically no one at all specialising in care for Bpd anywhere around us .

We have had many youth suisides in our small town and I am frightened that there is no help .

My daughter has been very sick lately with self harming and I've had to fight for help in our regional town 200km away.

The only help they can give is more drugs and safety of a hospital which hospitalisation has been said to be no good .

She began self harming at the hospital and the doctors have called myself to pick her up straight away and I have no idea how to deal with all of this ?

She is asking me for help and I have no idea what to do ?
6 REPLIES 6

Re: Isolated with lack of services available for daughter labeled with Bpd

I am not sure of what is going on with your daughter.  One thing I did with a young 27 yo woman who was self harming in my presence a couple of months ago ... was to cuddle her on the floor for a while ... enough to calm her down.  Sometimes just a body wrapped around another body helps a lot. 

Other strategies for calming depend so much on the individual ... walking by the beach .. or forest??

Doing positive hobbies they used to be involved with ... sharing them as an peer and support person ..

 

Re: Isolated with lack of services available for daughter labeled with Bpd

She normally works and does well at work.

She loves helping others and is involved with many positive routines and hobbies.

She does not smoke, drink alcohol or take and other drugs other than what is prescribed.

She can come across as having no problems at all.

Then straight after a what seems to be great day she's had, she will self harm and most the time in private although recently has done so in public.

I don't really know what we need but I think what I want is to be able to get the reccomded dbt treatment that has been said will help. ( Although I have no idea if this works)

I think also we both need to understand how to deal with the moods, hostility, anger, medications, self harm and communication tips ?



Re: Isolated with lack of services available for daughter labeled with Bpd

There must be a private hospital facility in Brisbane specialising in mental health for young people. I know there is one here in Sydney, which my daughter has been admitted to twice now (3 and 4 weeks) and which my private health fund fully covered. The fact that your doctors won't refer is a travesty and you should point out they have a duty of care to assist you find the most suitable treatment for your daughter. My daughter has also been diagnosed bipolar (she is 19) although this was preceded by many other diagnoses over many years. Maybe if you are still finding no support you should contact  your local area health service, local MP and perhaps the Minister for Health. The last two may not result in anything useful but being an advocate for your daughter (and venting a little frustration) can prove very useful for you. I wish you all the best and understand you are not alone on your journey despite your geographical isolation.

 

 

Re: Isolated with lack of services available for daughter labeled with Bpd

Hi @Farout2016

 

I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through. I can understand how scary it must be. In terms of your question about communication, one of our members @Janna posted here about some tips she recieved that she's going to try with her son.

Janna might also have some tips on how she got her son into care.

It sounds like you're doing such a good job - it's so hard when you keep getting road blocks.

Is it possible to work backwards? Perhaps contacting a private clinic and getting advice from them as a starting point?

Keep us posted on how you're going and remember we're here if you are after any support.

Take care.

Re: Isolated with lack of services available for daughter labeled with Bpd

This must be a terrifying situation to deal with.  Fearing for the safety of a loved one ranks very high on the stress scale.  First off I would like to promote the idea of communicating safety as per my recent post.  If you are able to get your daughter to effectively communicate her mood and safety status that will help immensely as it will remove guessing and give you an up-to-date picture of where she is.  I would recommend this to her as a means of her being able to clearly communicate where she is at (from a mental health perspective).  Doing this will alleviate a lot of guessing and stress.

If possible you should engage a private psychologist and psychiatrist and ensure that your daughter sees them on a regular basis.  They should be able to write letters of referral for a mental health facility that would suit your daughter.  You need a letter of referral to initiate admission into a private facility.

I highly recommend that you contact the mental health line australia on 1800 011 511.  Additonally I would also contact Beyond Blue either via internet or by phone and also encourage your daughter to chat via the Kids Helpline on – 1800 55 1800.

If amenable your daughter may have to relocate to Brisbane for the duration of her treatment/therapy.  I have a friend who is a registered nurse who actually takes such young people into her home as borders in a ligitamate way via Community Services.  This is another avenue you may wish to persue and if so then please speak with the relevant people via Community Health.

In the meantime you need to stay strong and ensure that you get some self-care and time-out along the way.  Persistance is the key.  If there is an opportunity for you to engage in some sort of professional therapy it would help alot and if this could be linked to your daughter's therapy/help then all the better.  The practice that I attend with my son works in this manner.  His psychologist and my psychologist are on the same page and the visiting psychiatrist also works together with us.  

I hope some of this helps and opens the doors to further treatment.

All the best

Janna 

Re: Isolated with lack of services available for daughter labeled with Bpd

Hello, 

Are you able to directly contact a community mental health provider such as NEAMI or Mind?  I hear that these two agencies have won new contracts in QLD in providing mental health services in a community setting. Also you might wish to contact the Mind Carer HElpline... they offer on phone counselling , information, advice and referral to a local service.. 

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