Lived Experience Forum

[sanity41]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and only just now starting to piece together BPD symptoms with my past, the way I think and how I'm currently living my life. 

Is this forum for people who have BPD or all mental health disorders? 

I am really hoping to get some advice on where I can find a psychologist, psychiatrist who specialise in BPD or other types of treatment. Unfortunalty, I'm living in Victoria right now, so my options are limited. 

[Eden1919]

@sanity41  Hi welcome to sane, this forum is for anyone with a mental health issue of any kind but It is geared towards complex mental health issues. I hope you can find what you where looking for and that you feel supported here.  

[Tortoiseshell]

Hey @sanity41, welcome to the forums! Thanks for letting us know a bit about yourself and what brought you here. I hope you find lots of support, connection, and info. Also the Guidelines can be handy to get a sense of how it all works.

As this is an anonymous forum members may not be able to give you specific referrals to psychologists or psychiatrists, but I hope they can give you tips on how they've managed finding a good professional for them, or someone with specific expertise. 

In the meantime, these websites and databases may be helpful:

https://www.projectairstrategy.org/index.html
https://www.psychology.org.au/Find-a-Psychologist
https://www.ranzcp.org/home 

Take care and see you round 🌻

[emilijia]

Hi @sanity41 , I am in much the same boat - it's a bit confronting isn't it? I'm trying to make sure I'm not self-diagnosing myself, but I think one place to start is to get a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP, and most GPs do telehealth consultations over the phone now and can send the care plan to your email when it is complete.

Not sure if you've had one completed before but the GP did ask me who the Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) should be referred to... I was previously working with a counsellor in a nearby suburb and asked them to refer to the same person even though I'm not sure if I will be working with the same counsellor.

After I did this, I came across Spectrum (http://spectrumbpd.com.au) which seems to run some programmes? Not too sure myself, still trying to figure things out in the midst of an imploding (imploded?) relationship ending just today that I sabotaged but felt completely helpless to stop...

Hope you find your peace and quiet.

Best wishes,

Emi

[Shaz51]

hello and hugs @emilijia , @sanity41 , @Eden1919 , @Tortoiseshell 

how are you going today my friends 

[BPDSurvivor]

@sanity41 , Welcome here!

To add on to what my fellow-friends have mentioned here, since you are in Melbourne, you'd be happy to know you are entitled to an extra 10 sessions with your MHCP. So it is a great time to seek therapy. This means, by the end of this calendar year, you can use the Medicare-covered 10 sessions, then get another 10 sessions in the new year. On top of that, the 10 extra sessions because you live in a lockdown area (these are valid up until March 2021 I believe).

BPD requires very targeted talking therapy along with someone you 'click' with. You cannot have one without the other, but sometimes, it does take time to develop a working relationship with a therapist.

All the best for you endeavours. Keep in mind, BPD is 'curable'. You CAN most definitely 'recover' from it. It is not a life sentence. I can say this from experience. I had the most stubborn form of BPD but with treatment, I've made huge progress. You can too.

BPDSurvivor