February 2024
DR IEEHYOK WOO JOINS ELLESMERE CLINIC
We are delighted to welcome on board our first child and adolescent psychiatrist. Dr Woo is available to take patients as from Friday 1st March. This is a really exciting development for the clinic and means we can broaden our services to reach a wider audience. Dr Woo not only has extensive experience in his field, he is also a very lovely person. We are really looking forward to working together. Please look at the Professionals page for full details
Please contact the clinic for further information on 0208 441 5241
January 2024
PSYCHIATRIC NURSE PETER CRASCALL
We are really excited to have Peter join our team and offer a great new service for our clients. Peter is a Consultant Psychiatric Nurse with extensive experience in the treatment and rehabilitation of individuals who find themselves debilitated by their ailments. His work includes follow up reviews and psych-socio treatment. He is able to visit patients at their home as well as in clinic and works closely with the consultant psychiatrist. Examples of the work he does would include providing support to agoraphobic clients in their home using Cognitive Behavioural techniques and offering additional support to clients who are experiencing crisis.
Please contact the clinic for further information on 0208 441 5241
September 2023
NEW THERAPIST STARTING
We are delighted to welcome on board Dawn Kett, CBT therapist. Dawn has extensive experience in treating clients taking a friendly, individual approach to maximising the persons potential. Dawn will be at the clinic on Thursday afternoons.
Welcome Dawn
April 2023
NEW CONSULTANTS STARTING
A very warm welcome to Dr Bhandari who will be starting their clinics this month at Ellesmere Clinic
Dr Bhandari will be working in the evenings which also will benefit clients who are working during the day.
NEW GROUPS STARTING
On the 24th April, Nuno Albuquerque will be starting a new group on Mondays from 6-7pm on-line. “THE POWER OF HABITS”
An article by David O’Sullivan
Why seek help?
Written by David O’Sullivan
Whilst walking my dog today and arranging this article in my head, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the thought;
“If I could use a time machine and hand a copy of what you are about to read to ’10 years ago’ me, how would ’10 years ago me’ react?”
Ten years ago, I was 29 and un-medicated bipolar 1.
I had travelled and lived around the world, thinking I could find a cure in location.
I was engaged twice, hoping it was a person who could calm the re-occurring storms, make me hate myself less and fill that ’empty’ space currently filled with chaos, confusion, mood swings, substance abuse and destruction.
However, despite my efforts to get well, I had destroyed all my relationships with people. I was taking any drugs I could get my hands on and drinking ludicrous amounts of alcohol daily as I had decided that this was how I would end my life.
I’d had enough.
I didn’t want to live anymore.
The pain far outweighed the joy; ‘the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze,’ I always used to think to myself.
Instead of feeling hopeless, I now write this feeling better than I have ever felt during my adult life. The seas are calm. I am calm.
I still experience the odd squall, but I have learnt how to batten down the hatches and avoid manic storms with the help of my psychiatrist, therapist and medication.
I no longer wake up on aeroplanes, not knowing how I got there and where I was going.
I no longer run from place to place.
I no longer go into interpersonal relationships hoping they may ‘fix’ me.
I no longer suffer from month’s long periods of destructive and dangerous manic behaviour.
I no longer suffer from severe depression that always follows a manic episode.
I no longer take any drugs.
I no longer drink a bottle of gin for breakfast or 30 beers throughout the day.
I no longer want to die but to live.
Suppose I again imagine what ’10 years ago me’ would have thought about how my life is now. In that case, I suspect I would have probably flung this article across the room, punched a wall, and downed another few cans of beer whilst cursing future me for being a cruel liar for daring to suggest that there was hope.
At my worst, after a failed rehab, two back-to-back drug overdoses in two months, and a desire to end my life through excessive alcohol and drug use, I sought help.
I had given up on myself for some time and had no idea how, when or what getting better was. My world, life, body and mind were a wreck, and I was dragging my family through hell.
Deciding to seek professional help and to be honest, to listen and to trust someone was the most critical decision of my life and the reason I am writing this now.
I get it. A mental illness will make you believe that there are no options, it’s hopeless and that seeking help will only make you more vulnerable and feel worse.
But that is not true.
That first day, by walking through a doctor’s office door, I was doing something positive. I certainly didn’t walk out instantly better, it doesn’t work like that, but I won a small battle, and that’s what getting to wellness is.
It’s not about winning the war in one big battle but winning a succession of smaller battles. Just to be clear, some will be lost, but to get better, you only need to win more than you lose, and if you sincerely work with a psychiatrist and a therapist, they will be the ones to help you do that.
I understand going to see a Doctor can be terrifying.
When unwell getting out of bed is a battle, let alone getting dressed, travelling to a strange and new location and bearing your most vulnerable and damaged version of yourself to someone you have never met. It’s hard.
But I know what an achievement that is. Others may not. They, fortunately, don’t suffer with what you do, but the people who can help and support you will. Not only that, but they can help those around you who don’t understand to understand your struggles and also help you accrue more battle wins.
I had two choices. I was either going to die or was going to get better somehow. I know that may sound dramatic, but it’s the truth, and maybe some of you reading this now are at that point.
I am writing this for you from a position of recovery, an increasingly whole life, a healthy mind, healthy heart, and for my family, I bring smiles into their lives instead of tears.
Whoever is reading this may be at a different point from where I was.
Suffer from a different illness.
We may have similar circumstances, or we may not.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ mental illness or treatment for that illness.
There is also no exact location to reach in recovery from mental illness or life in general. It is all continuous. We may have specific ports we aim to visit, but even whilst docked, we must know where we are sailing next.
If you have not sought medical help, that has to be your first port of call because sailing alone in the middle of a storm-battered ocean is not the place to be.
Not having a direction to point at and move towards allows the mind to wander, and whichever mental illness you suffer, it always has the propensity to sail into the darkest storms. That is why it’s an illness and that needs treatment.
I always say I am in recovery and not ‘cured’.
Recovery for me is about taking my medication, staying in contact with my psychiatrist, and continuously evolving into a better navigator and discoverer, allowing me to avoid storms and rough seas.
Maybe this article won’t help, but the fact that you are reading it in the first place and seeking answers is a good sign. It is a sign of hope and strength that you may not have realised you have.
It is a battle won.
I am thinking of you, dear reader, and rooting for you.
Sending love
David O’Sullivan
A wonderful evening spent with everyone who works at the clinic
March 2023
A very warm welcome to Dr Attavar who has already started working at Ellesmere Clinic. We are very lucky to have him with us!!!
Thomas Brosnan is now working with the clinic. He offers psychotherapy and can assess new patients for individual and for group therapy.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions .
Waiting for summer to arrive…