Oxfordshire
MIND
On the 13th April 2018, I was diagnosed with the following Mental Health related condition: Recurrent depressive disorder with prominent anxiety with some features of PTSD. Subsequently, this was reassessed as Depression with severe Anxiety with PTSD symptoms. It was a relief to finally receive this assessment for I had been struggling for a very considerable period of time culminating in a suicide attempt on September 13th, 2010.
During 2017, I underwent major Orthopaedic Surgery (twice) to receive a total hip joint replacement, work had ended as a result and other than SSP, my income had gone. I was served with a notice to leave where I had lived since 2015 and I had nowhere to go at all and so I dug my heels in and hung things out. In the end and just after my 60th Birthday in November 2018, on December 4th, I vacated and entered technical homelessness although in reality, I was accommodated at a local Inn thanks to my friendship with the family who run the establishment. I was on a short thread however, for the Inn required all their rooms over the Christmas period. Respite might be little more than breathing space…time.
Fortune was to smile though, for the Psychiatrist who had assessed me, one Dr Hammond, put me
in touch with the Adult Mental Health Team in Oxfordshire and in short-order,
they directed me to engage with the Oxfordshire MIND charity and following an
interview I was contacted by telephone to say that I had been accepted and
duly I moved in to the “Goldrose” Project in Goldsmiths Lane in
Wallingford on December 21st 2018. What an early Christmas present
this truly was! Quite apart from removing me from the fear of homelessness, I
was enabled to return to, and reside within the town of my birth and Secondary education and in fact, some 43
years after first leaving home to begin my career in Civil Engineering which
has taken me all over the United Kingdom and very extensively overseas too.
Now, in September 2020 I am leaving “Goldrose” and moving just two miles away for that
which should be my final ever such unrooting and, as such, my circle is
completed.
Aided
by my intimate knowledge of Wallingford, I settled quickly into “Goldrose” and,
whilst I had to get used to the unfamiliar routine of sharing with two other
residents, something that did occasionally give rise to relatively brief
discomfort, nevertheless in general, cordiality was obtained and perhaps my
culinary abilities were a useful asset in achieving such cordiality for at
least the majority of the time.
We
were blessed with having a nice little garden area but one that had been
largely untended and, during 2019 and with support from MIND, we got into
reasonable shape and during this year (2020) a lovely ornamental feature has
developed including the growth, development and blossoming of Sunflowers from
seed. Before I leave, I will be planting some Holly Hocks in both residences of “Goldrose” to add further peace-provoking colour to the residential
environment.
My
residency at Goldrose was (and remains
to be for all residents thereof) a temporary housing solution and so earlier
this year, I engaged with SOHA (South Oxfordshire Housing Association) but of
course the COVID problem somewhat intervened and delayed my moving-on options.
I applied for a number of suitable properties and thankfully, I was finally
accepted for a delightful property in Brightwell cum Sotwell and, aided as
always by MIND, personal friends and SOHA, as I compose this article I am
pretty much moved in.
Therefore as
the Sunsets upon my stay here at “Goldrose” so the Sunflowers that I grew from
seed are beginning to Rise and Shine and, from a personal perspective this
natural aspect not only glows upon my final move onwards but also highlights my
gratitude to Oxfordshire MIND, SOHA, the AMHT and my General Practioner, Dr
Simon Pettitt.
May the Peace and Blessings of God Almighty be upon all who may view this article and all the residents of MIND wheresoever dispersed around the County of Oxfordshire.
By
Chris Green
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