The Home Treatment Team pulled out all the stops yesterday to help manage the ongoing crisis that was developing here.  We were in touch throughout the day and a Mental Health Nurse called at our home for a couple of hours in the morning.

I continue to be impressed by the Home Treatment Team in all sorts of ways.  It always helps when you are being supported by professionals who have a cohesive working model that reflects your own thinking.  They also practice what they preach and soon weighed up that Home Treatment was the best option for us.  That means that they will assess Maureen’s presentation in the home whilst seeking to prevent carer burnout by yours truly.

I am also grateful to Gary, a Duty Social Worker,  who worked tirelessly yeaterday to provide back up to the Home Treatment Team.  He had contingency arrangements in place in case Maureen needed to go into an Assessment Centre.  In addition he put a further carer sit in place and tried to organise more at very short notice.  Sue our Key Worker will be back today, she doesn’t work on Wednesday’s but the arrangements in place for her day off are first class.

We are not out of the woods in any way yet.  Maureen got into a real state yesterday afternoon feeling that the conspiracy to take away her liberty was escalating.  She tried to do another ‘runner’ and broke down later on.  Thankfully telephone advice from the HTT to ‘give her space to see if she would settle’ worked.

I need to talk to the HTT and Social Services this morning to avoid interventions by their staff provoking Maureen into reactions that are unhelpful to her well-being.  I’m sure they will understand the need for staff continuity rather than fresh faces at our door adding to Maureen’s confusion and distress.

I nearly forgot we’ve just had a great night’s sleep, in bed together: what a relief!