A view from the inside: A professional’s personal experience of mental health systems

This paper is a reflective account of a personal experience of mental distress and the journey through mental health services that resulted. It is written from the perspective of a professional who had been working with children and their families for over 40 years, latterly as the director of children’s social care in a large local authority. Her working life was dedicated to assisting vulnerable children, young people and their families. The account demonstrates how quickly the mental health of a confident and highly competent professional can unravel without warning. The piece is written in the first person with no attempt to disguise how it felt but also reflects the considerations of a more ‘detached’ professional observer. The account emphasises the negative consequences of a diagnostic and medicalised view of mental distress which lacks an adequate awareness of the role of trauma in instigating mental health difficulties. Implications for the support of staff, self–care and a wider psycho social formulation of mental health distress are discussed.