I've generally been lucky. But I live in a major urban centre, and I know access to care is a lot more limited in rural areas.

My first encounter with a T was in 1998, when I was having a work / life crisis. She was private, but very good, and realized I needed more serious help. I continued to see her for years.

She referred me to my first pdoc in 1999 and she was a disaster. Never less than 90 min. late for an appointment with no explanation, and calling in the wrong doses to the pharmacy. She finally pulled the ultimate disappearing stunt about 18 months later, when she called in a renewal on my anti-D, put 12 repeats on it, and literally disappeared for a year. It turns out she was really sick, but talk about crappy follow up and patient management.

My next pdoc, was a trauma specialist at a major psych hospital. She was a God send. Did talk therapy, got me going on a good combo of meds, and when I had my post rehab 1 crisis, got me admitted to a great hospital where I got great care.

After about 4 years, she had some kind of weird political fall out with the hospital, that I never learned the details of and she left. The hospital tried to drop me, but I made a fuss, and got assigned to a staff psychiatrist. I wasn't wild about him at first, because he was kind of cold, but he's turned out to be a real gem. Listens to me, discusses any med changes, sees me within a week if I'm in crisis, and gives really good advice. He also believes meds aren't the only solution and really encourages CBT, DBT, and mindfulness.

I'm lucky my psych hospital is Canada's largest specialist psych hospital and is a WHO Centre of Excellence. It's also a major training hospital. They take excellence in care very seriously. I've been IP there 3 times, and had a really good and helpful experience each time.

They actually have an advisory council that advises the board of trustees and Hospital management. I'm a consumer rep on it, and have been for 4 years now. Management actually listens to the council, and have implemented a lot of the recommendations that the council has made. It's made up of patients, family members, staff, community members, and other partner organizations. It's really progressive.

So yes I've been super lucky.

splitimage