New Drug Worker

[froude]

Hi ya All,
Im in the process of getting a new drug worker/mental health nurse,its the fifth one in eight years and to be honest im getting pretty pissed off with having to tell my story(feel as though i have to, so they know where im coming from).I know she will have my records and all the bullshit they put in it, but it seems to me that once i start getting a good feeling about my drug workers they go off and do something else(maybe its me lol)i feel like you just go in there say your bit every other week and thats it.There wasnt any point getting to know the last one cause like he said he was only filling in for a few weeks until they get a new worker.Iwas in a meeting with him the other day and he said we have just interviewed your new case worker.Now he has put me on a paranoid one thinking ,im getting a new worker who is going to go by the book(i know she could be ok),as she is new.This is really doing my head in ,its next week so ill let you know how it goes.cheers froude

[purplehearts]

Hey - good luck with that. I know how you feel, I've had endless drug workers since I started on meth. The rubbish ones lasted for ages, and the two brilliant ones moved on! I'm now on shared care and luckily my GP is really good so I'm happy now. But it is really fustrating when you are getting to know a worker then you have to start again from scratch and tell lots of personal things yet again to someone new.
But if your last worker was crap, hopefully the change will work out for the better and you'll get someone decent. Let us know how it goes :-) x

[sapphire]

Froude - know how you feel, I was told last week that I have a new keyworker now.

I have not met them yet but fel a bit panicky that they will be from the neo-abstentionist mould!

You never know though, they might be great. There are still some (admittedly very few) good drug workers out there.

[froude]

Finally met my new drug worker yesterday ,all good i can honestly say,only got him/her on a temp basis but when i get my new one my treatment will continue as normal ,everytime i got a new drug worker we would go back to the start all the time,so when they were leaving i was at the same place everytime,bloody nightmare.He/she came up with a couple of ideas that have been mentioned in the past but nothing has come of it ,now it will suposedly.Im giving them a month to see if it all kicks off,if it does fair play ,if it dont, well f..k em.cheers all Froude

[froude]

Been going to my new key worker for a month now and have had 2 appointments,given 2 neg urine tests(well pleased),but today,ive now been dropped to half an hour appointments every 2 weeks,fuck knows what we are supposed to accomplish in half hour every 2 weeks.All my key worker seems to do is jot things down every 10minutes, and blow his nose inbetween jotting things down every 10minutes.I feel it is a waste of my time and his,they obviously have loads of cases or hes on a price work contract,if it carries on like this (half hour appointments)then im going to say something or phone the office.Have a good day,all the best Froude

[sapphire]

I only see my keyworker for 10 mins once a month, at my dsp we would never get even a 30 min appointments as it is so busy there just would not be time to fit all the service users in at all.

What sort of time do other people have with their keyworkers?

Froude - if you feel like you need longer appointments I would tell them - it is then up to your keyworker to worry about how he is going to make that happen. How did get on with him? A lot of men I have spoken to prefer female keyworkers as they say they find it easier to talk to women.

[Flip]

We only saw our key worker for a couple of minutes about  every six weeks but we were grateful for that. I couldn't honestly say that any of them contributed to my recovery in any shape or form. We were long term patients with a spotless record though and we did see them more often than that in the beginning.  We saw one who was great but who soon moved on and the rest were mediocre in the extreme.

Flip

[froude]

Well they were giving us half hour,now been dropped to 15 minutes,yeah Saph funnily enough i do get on better with women,ive only had 2 key workers that were men the rest women,im in a transition at the moment waiting for a new key worker which ive been told is a women ,at the moment im seeing a male.Ill see how it goes and if my woman key worker does not turn up i will say something,cheers to you all Froude.

[sapphire]

I am the same Flip,I am glad to see mine only for a short while occassionally and see it as a chore, not something to help me, but again I have had clean tests for years and am seen as a "model client" whatever the fuck that is.

Keyworkers are not properly qualified to counsel the problems most of us have and most have so many clients that they cannot give us the time anyway.

I too had one excellent keyworker, the one I have now was crap at the beginning but is actuslly not too bad now, at least listening to what I say.

[OP8S]

I'm the opposite, my key for the last few years was a really nice guy, we have a lot in common. He used to be in the construction business, liked the footie & good drink ( I don't now, but he still does ) & both had a hatred of the conservative party. I didn't mind my appointments with him, he would even come to my house to save me the bus trip + we could smoke in mine. In the last year he has stopped talking about our common interests, makes me go & see him for every appointment & all he talks about now is methadone. Why do I like to take it....because it's legal . Don't you get pissed off with having to take it everyday....no, I am on weekly obs so just have to go to the pharmacy once a week, so it's just like taking any other med. I see now that the first part of his ploy was to befriend me with finding common ground, now that this has been done & he thinks that I give a shit what he thinks he is applying pressure to reduce. I get nothing from my appointments now, it's the same each time, I tell him I'm fine, that work's a bitch & anything else I can think of to fill the time. It's got to the stage now where I'm writing a letter to my CDT to tell them that I no longer need their services. I can get my tests done at the clinic if they want & my GP hands me my script after asking what dose I want...just the usual please. Take it to the chemist, job done.
It's the CDT's own fault that they have lost a client, I used to see a really good counciller who was a lady but she's gone now & I'm not starting to let somebody else rake about in my head. They have nothing of any use to me now, so they might as well spend their time more wisely on some teenager who has just realised that they have got in too deep & want out.
 Very noble of me I think, though I imagine the CDT will want to have a meeting with me to try & coax me back for more *recovery talk* . YUK!

[froude]

Ive got my second appointment with my new KW/Mental Health Nurse,im wondering if he is still with me on the Maintenence side of my treatment or is he the same as the others and im down as "ATrouble Maker and not responsive".I dont get the responsive thing ,I think im responding well to Methadone Maintenence.Have a good day all and i will be letting you know if he has wired in and gone purple,All the best Froude

[OP8S]

Used to be that you were responding well to the treatment if you gave up scoring everyday, now you're expected to live like a Saint. As long  as your not scoring several times a day & on the rob then I think you are responding well.

[froude]

Well,Well my Key has the same thinking as me on Methadone Maintenence,personally he thinks it is a good thing,to cut a long story short i just came out with it "What do you think of Methadone Maintenence"and we are on the same page .He also said that the powers from above (government)just dont think Methadone Maintenence works, and  in the future he thinks it will be like "Hello your on this for x amount of weeks and then you are off.Id like to know where the Government gets  this information from,do they pull it out the "Bullshit Files",who is adviseing them that Maintenence on Methadone aint working,if anyone knows please tell me and i can Email them and tell them to pop into one of them Government Jags and come and see me down the M4.When my key said that to me "Hello your be on this amount  and then your off",I replied in a couple of months time your be seeing the same people again,its a circle or will become one ,and he actually agreed with me.Well im pleased my KW has that attitude ,as i have said before he is pretty young,but seems to have an older head on his shoulders regarding the treatment of Methadone and Maintenence.Good session at last,so long since i had a session like that ,said to him couldnt remember when a session has gone so well,first time ive not felt worse coming out of the appointment,All the best Froude

[sapphire]

That sounds good froude, it certainly takes the stress off when you have a keyworker who is on the same page as you.

[froude]

Well Saph its definately made my day.All the best Froude.