Care Homes Owned by Rethink Mental Illness

As soon as I came into the house I felt safe. The staff are compassionate and kind while also able to maintain safe boundaries. There is a communal living room, spacious kitchen, and beautiful garden. Staff are there 24/7 so you are never alone. This is the best mental health bed I've ever experienced in 30 years of struggling with my illness.

The worst thing I did was go here. Instead of being a life saver they played mind games, humiliated me and tormented me. They pretend to care but they don't. None of them actually care. Rather then what they did, how they messed with my mind and emotions. I would rather pushed me off a bridge or ran over me, then reversed back over me because that's what they did with my emotions. They lied, called me crazy, that I was making it all up. What they didn't realise is I had a text, physical evidence. When I showed this, it was then acknowledged but they lied in the very next sentence which I didn't have evidence of as it was verbal. They make you think you are crazy, losing your mind, not thinking straight or making things up. Who's going to believe a mentally ill person anyway over them. No one. They left me emotionally unstable, I wrote a letter, made a plan, have the means, I still have these. It's shameful and a form of abuse what they did and put me through.

Not even 2 minutes later, another member of staff knocked on my door. "Erm we need to run taps in your bathroom, we do it every week". I said, "You think someone's in the bathroom, have a look". I felt falsely accused. It ruined my last 3 days. I didn't feel as comfortable as I did. Staff should not accuse a person of something they don't know to be true. You have no idea what that person is going through! I did not break any rules!

I stayed at the Crisis House for 6 nights in all. (I was given an extra night due to added help needed). The House is bright and airy. The rooms are kept to a lovely standard and are clean and inviting. The kitchen is large and well adapted for every need with extra help given by the staff. I can't speak highly enough of the staff for their supportive and emotional help. I feel that I am quite stronger for the visit that I had and also knowing that I will have them at the end of the phone come day or night. A big thanks to them all for their caring and compassion.

I stayed at Victoria Court after I came out of hospital. I found the staff very helpful and friendly. They did all they could to help me settle into my new flat and encouraged me to find employment and to go back into the community. The only fault I have is that their resources are limited and so they could not always do as much as they would like, but this of course is not their fault.

I recently spent a couple of weeks at Victoria Court and the experience left me highly dissatisfied. I was sent here after being discharged from the hospital as I was homeless at the time. I expected staff to work with me to help me explore my options to move forward, however, there was little support in place. During my stay here, I had a couple of experiences that were completely unacceptable: Due to not having any money and being refused universal credit, I was unable to purchase food or top-up for my phone. Once the staff learned that I had told a relative about not getting enough to eat, I was approached by a member of staff who was very irritated and told me that I "need to stop telling people". After this, I was banned from borrowing the office phone, even to make urgent calls to my GP and welfare rights officer. The way I was treated was so bad I was forced to leave immediately, causing me to be homeless. There is a couple of nice staff, my main issue is with 2 individuals.