frustrated with getting support for my mental health and I don't know what to do

[bea395]

I've been struggling with what I strongly suspect is OCD alone for years because I couldn't trust my parents to support me based on their reactions to other people in the family being mentally ill and their views about mental health. Now I'm 17 and I found out that you can go to the GP confidentially and consent to treatment in the UK without your parents if you're over the age of 16. So I booked a GP appointment a few weeks ago, but the thought of going made me so anxious that I cancelled. After cancelling the appointment I tried to get online counselling with The Mix but they had no counselling sessions available. I feel really isolated because I feel like I have no one to talk to. I can't talk to a teacher because they would have to tell my parents and I can't talk to my friends because I'm worried that they will talk to a teacher or their parents or someone else who will talk to my parents.
Before the appointment I used guides on how to talk to a doctor about mental health on the Mind and Childline websites and a website called docready and I had planned everything I wanted to say. I was technically prepared but the process of trying to get help was overwhelming without a support system and I think it would be easier if I had someone to talk to in person who could go to the appointment with me. i've tried talking to online counsellors on websites like childline but it's not really enough because you get a different counsellor each time and what I really need is a support network of people I can talk to regularly. I thought getting support would be the easy part after all this time struggling with my mental health alone but it's just making everything harder and I'm not sure what to do anymore.

[Catsup]

14 hours ago, bea395 said:

I've been struggling with what I strongly suspect is OCD alone for years because I couldn't trust my parents to support me based on their reactions to other people in the family being mentally ill and their views about mental health. Now I'm 17 and I found out that you can go to the GP confidentially and consent to treatment in the UK without your parents if you're over the age of 16. So I booked a GP appointment a few weeks ago, but the thought of going made me so anxious that I cancelled. After cancelling the appointment I tried to get online counselling with The Mix but they had no counselling sessions available. I feel really isolated because I feel like I have no one to talk to. I can't talk to a teacher because they would have to tell my parents and I can't talk to my friends because I'm worried that they will talk to a teacher or their parents or someone else who will talk to my parents.
Before the appointment I used guides on how to talk to a doctor about mental health on the Mind and Childline websites and a website called docready and I had planned everything I wanted to say. I was technically prepared but the process of trying to get help was overwhelming without a support system and I think it would be easier if I had someone to talk to in person who could go to the appointment with me. i've tried talking to online counsellors on websites like childline but it's not really enough because you get a different counsellor each time and what I really need is a support network of people I can talk to regularly. I thought getting support would be the easy part after all this time struggling with my mental health alone but it's just making everything harder and I'm not sure what to do anymore.

Hi there, I'm Catsup a support mentor here. I'm sorry to hear about your negative experiences with trying to get help.  If you want to talk about it here, what are the reasons you suspect OCD?

You mentioned feeling too anxious to go to your GP appointment.  Could you tell more more about why you might have had that anxiety with going to your GP, and do you think it holds you back from getting help in general?  You're right that with an ongoing mental health problem, regular support is really important. 

I understand how your parents might not be the most supportive to other family members who have struggles with mental health, and that must make it feel really hard to imagine them knowing.  At the same time, trying to hide your mental health concerns from them might be making it harder to reach out to other people, since you have worries they could find out.  How you think your parents might react if they found out you were having mental health struggles?

We're definitely here to help you navigate this, and hope to hear back from you!