You said

• Ms Jade who's been in contact with me is just so caring and made me feel comfortable on discussing my mental health issue.

  24 Nov 2020

• I think you guys did an excellent job.

  24 Nov 2020

• Easy reading and explained the different types of courses abd treatments foe each need

  19 Nov 2020

• I found the session helpful but it is not something everyone would want to engage in.

  18 Nov 2020

• The actual appointments are fine mostly and the last one i had was helpful mostly, but theres just not enough of them, once a year isnt nearly enough for all the issues i have and i dont feel looked after most of the time when i need it?

  16 Nov 2020

• Good advice, could have listen to Jane for longer when she was doing the relaxation session. She has a very calming voice and helped me feel relaxed and at ease.

  11 Nov 2020

• Well I haven’t had any treatment yet so it’s hard to know if it’s good or not

  10 Nov 2020

• I understand how very busy you are but when you are not mentally feeling good it would have been nice to speak to someone sooner.

  10 Nov 2020

• I feel that because of covid there is such a long waiting list ! Nothing can be helped

  10 Nov 2020

• Because they where understanding and caring

  27 Oct 2020

• Nothing it was perfect

  27 Oct 2020

• Not enough treatments available for people who need them

  27 Oct 2020

• Offer 1:1 therapy, Counselling, CBT, psychotherapy, all things you should offer anyway

  27 Oct 2020

• The lady I spoke to was very nice and welcoming. She made me feel very comfortable and hopeful that I am finally getting somewhere with options’ help

  27 Oct 2020

• Claire listened and was empathetic throughout and I felt my care was not generic but individualized

  22 Oct 2020

• Gemma was lovely and understanding. I have only had phone calls from Gemma not face to face.

  22 Oct 2020

• I prefer face to face but understand

  22 Oct 2020

• If I’m being completely honest, prior to my appointment there was some poor communication on options’ end, and at the appointment itself I felt quite uncomfortably / judged through a lot of it.

  21 Oct 2020

• Better communication with patients and GPs I think would make the biggest difference.

  21 Oct 2020

• My service from Myra and the lady (sorry I have forgotten her name) who assessed me have been exceptional.

  They are both understanding caring and informative

  20 Oct 2020

• At this moment in time no. I feel assessed properly and that you are referring me in to psychotherapy as I need more intense help. I’m really appreciative

  20 Oct 2020

• Catrina listened to everything without judgement. After only one session I felt empowered enough to make positive changes and would use this service again

  19 Oct 2020

• I did it face to face with a student in his first year. I was very happy

  19 Oct 2020

• Nothing at all 10 out of 10

  07 Oct 2020

• They just try and palm you off onto other groups so they don't have to do anything themselves.

  06 Oct 2020

• Very pleasant and relaxed. My counsellor was top notch. I enjoyed our on line meetings

  06 Oct 2020

• Therapist was fantastic, easy to contact and understanding.

  06 Oct 2020

• My first experience of therapy and I was very impressed. Especially during lock down

  06 Oct 2020

• It was thought provoking. Therapist was amazing and helped me verbalise how I felt

  06 Oct 2020

• Helpful and I learned some valuable tools. My therapist was extremely professional

  06 Oct 2020

• I did not find online helpful but 1-1 was, my practitioner was fantastic.

  06 Oct 2020

• I did not find that on line helped me. face to face was extremely helpful. My practitioner was fantastic

  16 Sep 2020

• My overall feedback is that my experience with Plymouth Options was very good (if there was a better option, I would definitely pick it because the service was fantastic). It is wonderful that Plymouth Options are able to offer a psychosexual therapy service,

  15 Sep 2020

• I had confidence in my therapist that she understood my anxiety and what would help. I am very surprised how much I recovered and in a shorter space of time I thought I would.

  15 Sep 2020

• The service i received throughout was constructive and well explained. My therapist was very patient and helped tremendously

  08 Sep 2020

• I found Lottie to be very supportive and offered great overall advice, this has given me a better outlook. I have a better set of boundaries and appreciate her comments. I need to look after myself as a matter of priorities

  08 Sep 2020

• The service was excellent. I felt listened to and supported and given additional tools from you tube. i was impressed how ell Options have adapted to COVID.

  07 Sep 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for your comments. particularly at a challenging time for us all.

• Still using computer programming, great way to go over things.

  07 Sep 2020

• Good but still need a lot of help with my mental health and as I have been much changed by the company I wasn't impressed but I will say one thing Holly was the best thing for me she helped me with a lot of things when I was going through some hard times

  04 Sep 2020

• It would help if people stuck to the agreement that was made for many of people are not been taken away from them it is no good for men to have to be left for over 3 months nearly 4/5 months with no me up help reception you say the manager's will contact you and they don't is lack of communication and I don't think that's fair with somebody with a lot of mental health problems

  04 Sep 2020

• The service provided was the service expected and enabled us to plan an approach to the problems duscussed

  26 Aug 2020

• One Covid era confusion. I was emailed and a telephone interview appointment was made, whereas Rob thought it was to be a face-to-face interview. As a consequence and, to my consternation, this was recorded as a 'no-show'. However, it was swiftly resolved.

  26 Aug 2020

• I found myself less anxious and I have another way to direct my thoughts. This has been so helpful

  19 Aug 2020

• Fionna put me at ease from our 1st telephone assessment. I felt listened to and supported at each appointment and I was never made to feel silly. I could always say what I wanted. Information was so helpful and it ended at a time, we both felt it was right.

  19 Aug 2020

• I found Virginia to be kind, compassionate and empathic. She listened and encouraged me. My experience was very positive and the silvercloud programme beneficial

  19 Aug 2020

• Overall, I have been pleased with the service. I think moving forward I may benefit form face to face.

  19 Aug 2020

• The response was quick after my initial email and the counsellor i spoke to was fantastic, all responses have been very quick and appropriate to my needs

  12 Aug 2020

• It was a positive experience

  06 Aug 2020

• I am very grateful for the help. I now feel I am in a good place. My therapist was always respectful, good humoured and pleasantly persuasive. I feel I have been fortunate to encounter her.

  03 Aug 2020

• This service was referred to me by CAMHs, who told me that I was in need of help with my mental health. This was because I’d had mental health issues throughout growing up, and I was sexually assaulted which intensified this and led to me being too anxious to leave the house most days, alongside being too depressed to do anything/have any will to live. Plymouth Options was recommended as the ONLY service available to help me, so naturally I expected that you would be an extremely helpful service. At this time, I was also living away from my whole family who are in a different country, and struggling heavily with school work since I had moved to Plymouth on my own and was finding it very difficult to go to school due to issues previously mentioned. I was crying out for help anywhere I could get it, and Plymouth Options did absolutely NOTHING. I spoke to someone on the phone and repeatedly told them I really needed help because I couldn’t cope with how depressed I was, and he actively told me that Plymouth Options ‘wasn’t the place to go’ for this kind of help. So tell me, if a mental health service is not the place to go for help with depression and anxiety, WHERE IS? The only reason you are turning people away is that you are unconfident in the quality of your treatment, and do not want to treat a suicidal patient who this treatment doesn’t work for. You do not care about the wellbeing of your potential patients, you care about the creation of jobs and income. When employing counsellors and psychiatrists, I suggest you find those with a passion for helping those with mental health problems and psychological issues, because anyone who is content with how this service runs certainly doesn’t have any passion for helping others. I am completely disappointed by the ‘help’ I received from Plymouth Options and will actively be discouraging others from using this service.

  01 Aug 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. Your comments are import to us, to help us evaluate and improve our service. We apologise for the service you received and that the treatment that can be offered was not fully explained to you. It is important to us that we offer therapy that can make a difference, when we know that our service is not suitable, we would normally explain in detail why and offer signposting for a more appropriate and beneficial service to you.

  Plymouth Options offers a range of free services to help people manage common mental health problems, these include short term counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) therefore is not suitable for who are a high risk to themselves or others, such as current risk of suicide or who have current severe or enduring mental health needs requiring specialist services as our service does not employ psychiatrists or mental health nurses. The therapist gave you the correct information, that our service was not suitable for your long standing problems but regrettably did not appear to inform you in a factual way or with compassion. We are also disappointed with the outcome for you as CAMHs would have been the service most suited to your needs.

• Employ therapists who are interested in helping those in need, and those who will speak up against the disgusting policies of this service. Empathise with your potential patients, and realise that those who are at risk of suicide deserve help just as much as any other mentally ill person, and actively rejecting suicidal patients makes you a part of the mental health crisis in England. If you refuse to help those with suicidal ideation, recommend a service to potential patients that will help with these thoughts, rather than leaving them empty handed and feeling more alone and helpless than ever.

  01 Aug 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. Your comments are import to us, to help us evaluate and improve our service. We apologise for the service you received and that the treatment that can be offered was not fully explained to you. It is important to us that we offer therapy that can make a difference, when we know that our service is not suitable, we would normally explain in detail why and offer signposting for a more appropriate and beneficial service to you.

  Plymouth Options offers a range of free services to help people manage common mental health problems, these include short term counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) therefore is not suitable for who are a high risk to themselves or others, such as current risk of suicide. Plymouth Options is not an acute service. We operate within the NICE ( national institute for health and care excellence) guidelines offering evidenced based treatments for anxiety based disorders and depression. We are dismayed to hear that you were not signed posted to a more suitable service and will remind all our therapists to update themselves on the other services available in Plymouth.

• The telephone call was great, but outcome was NOT. A very confusing service that only offers other services, made no sense.

  31 Jul 2020

• I feel I have made a profound start and felt completely valued by my therapist.

  29 Jul 2020

• I feel 20 sessions are not enough but made a big improvement in 10. I feel a big part of my support system has gone. Perhaps introduce a follow up session.

  29 Jul 2020

• The practitioner I got to talk to was very patient with me, she listened to me and offered me some useful information! She was very nice

  16 Jul 2020

• Received anxiety training. Content was clear, relevant and useful. Receiving the training virtually worked well for some activities - it allowed us to do the mindfulness and breathing tasks in private without distractions. However, the format was restrictive for discussion. Jackie and Jess checked in with us for questions and encouraged use of chat facility, but the nature of virtual training does not foster connection with each other. Perhaps using 'breakout rooms' (like on zoom) would have supported this further. Jackie and Jess seemed friendly and approachable.

  The content of the pre-training questionnaire however, was inappropriate. Asking employees to share very personal information about their medication/suicidal thoughts, for example, must be breaching confidentiality protocol. It should have been made clear why this was being collected and made optional, not mandatory. Or anonymised.

  15 Jul 2020

• Attended a study session this afternoon as part of our CPD day- very useful session n promoting understanding of anxiety and mindfulness. Good pace and delivery. Very helpful to have practical activities to use eg for grounding, breathing.

  14 Jul 2020

• Presenters said it was the first time they had done this training virtually but it was delivered really well and they were very engaging. A couple technical hitches but there always are!

  14 Jul 2020

• I am grateful for everything the team has done for me and I hope in the future they can continue to help others like me.

  13 Jul 2020

• My therapist couldn't have treated me any better, she was everything you could want and more

  13 Jul 2020

• waiting time for CBT was far too long, waited over a year.

  13 Jul 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. We recognise that our waiting time for CBT is too long and are always looking for ways to improve this. We are a free service and that in itself leads to long waiting lists. Unfortunately, we do experience people who do not attend and this in turn puts pressure on the wait for others.

• Therapist was amazing. She helped me to identify my unhealthy, negative thought patterns which were completely ruling my life, and came up with suggestions on how to conquer them. This has changed my life. I feel like it has turned my life around so I am eternally grateful. therapist was so supportive and she really did understand me. It was like talking to a caring friend.

  13 Jul 2020

• Nothing

  13 Jul 2020

• I thought the CBT modules were helpful and gave me a lot to think about

  08 Jul 2020

• I received support and understanding regarding my current situation from a counselor whom I had seen previously.

  08 Jul 2020

• It was good, chapters need releasing at different times it was tempting to whizz through them

  06 Jul 2020

• Nothing my therapist was brilliant

  06 Jul 2020

• I struggled a lot with the online service, very impersonal and took a long time to get a response. I missed one check in due to mental health and was made to wait an extra week as punishment, which made me worse.

  06 Jul 2020

• My therapist mostly sat and listened rather than introducing skills. I felt I was not receiving the kind of help I wanted. It helped my depression but not the panic attacks

  06 Jul 2020

• Therapist was wonderful in finding the route cause of my struggles and supported me in implementing changes. She was brilliant I really appreciate all the help she has given me.

  15 Jun 2020

• The Phone occupier made me feel very calm and safe and gave me all the information and referrals I needed.

  11 Jun 2020

• In my opinion nothing.

  11 Jun 2020

• Every thing in my opinion was done very professional.

  11 Jun 2020

• Very helpful lady

  11 Jun 2020

• I feel for the conditions your service treat that you do not take serious cases and instead signpost them without discussing with them.

  08 Jun 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. It is appreciated and it helps us improve our service to you. . Plymouth options offers short term evidenced based treatment for common mental health problems, such as Anxiety and Depression. For our clients with more complicated and serious mental health problems, our treatments would not be suitable. We sign post when we feel it is in the clients best interest. We apologise that this was not discussed with you, it is our normal policy to discuss all options/decisions with the client. We have regular team meetings and staff will be reminded of this policy.

• Discuss with patient before making decisions

  08 Jun 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback.It is appreciated and it helps us improve our service to you. It is our normal policy to discuss all options/decisions with the client. We have regular team meetings and staff will be reminded of this policy. We apologise that this was not discussed with you on this occasion.

• Felt valued

  02 Jun 2020

• Very understanding and caring lady that seemed to empathise with me

  02 Jun 2020

• A face to face video link would have been much better, I don’t like talking over the phone without seeing who I am talking to

  02 Jun 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback. It is appreciated and it helps us improve our service to you. Most of our assessments are done over the telephone, we are a busy service and this allows us to keep our waiting lists down and assess more people. Follow up treatments are done face to face or via a video link.

• I never thought I'd need counselling or imagined how it would help, but Fionna was amazing and taught me how to rationalise my thoughts and emotions and to take a breath before reacting.

  29 May 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to respond. I have passed your comment on to Fionna.

• Not taken a year from referral.

  29 May 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to comment. We understand how frustrating the waiting times are. The wait times vary on each different therapy and are effected by people who do not attend appointments. We are continually looking at ways to help reduce the wait, however we are a busy free NHS service that covers all residents in Plymouth.

• Be more upfront with who you actually help

  27 May 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to respond. We apologise that on this occasion we were not the most suitable service for your needs. Our website and self referral form gives information about who we are and what we do. Plymouth Options are part of the NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) program and offer brief evidenced based psychological therapies for people experiencing common mental health difficulties, such as anxiety and depression.

  Plymouth Options is not an acute service so is not suitable for people;

  - Who are a high risk to themselves or others, such as current risk of suicide or serious self-harm

  - Already undertaking another form of psychological therapy

  - Who are using substances such as alcohol or recreational drugs to self-medicate

  - Who have current severe or enduring mental health needs and as such require specialist services

  - Plymouth Options is not an emergency service.

• The consultations were by phone.. I was pleased how useful and helpful the process was considering it wasn't face to face.

  22 May 2020

• I was not allowed to bring my 7 month old baby with me.

  18 May 2020

  Our reply

  Firstly thank you for taking the time to response. We do apologise for this and we are not quite sure why you were given the wrong information. We do allow babies to be bought along, we do suggest having someone who can take over, should it be needed, as we want your session to be about you and it would be difficult to concentrate should baby get distressed. We do advise not bringing young children if possible to a therapy session, should you get upset during the consultation.

• I wanted to talk face to face not over the phone. I wanted to bring my baby who i am breast feeding, my Mum would have been in the waiting room with her.

  18 May 2020

  Our reply

  Firstly thank you for taking the time to response. We do apologise for this and we are not quite sure why you were given the wrong information. We do understand that getting childcare can be difficult, especially with feeding babies who are still reliant on their mothers. We do allow babies to be bought along, we do suggest having someone who can take over, should it be needed, as we want your session to be about you and it would be difficult to concentrate should baby get distressed. We do advise not bringing young children if possible to a therapy session, should you get upset during the consultation.

• Supportive, compassionate and constructive advice.

  18 May 2020

• cant say a bad word about my experience. Felt listened to and like a human. Absolutely fantastic service.

  18 May 2020

• Service was helpful, therapist was friendly, knowledgeable, understanding and approachable

  14 May 2020

• Shorter wait time

  14 May 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to respond. We understand the frustration of a long waiting list. We have several treatment options and some incur longer waiting lists. We experience a lot of people who do not turn up for appointments and this will increase the waiting time for others. We are always looking at why we have a waiting time in some areas and ways to reduce our lists.

• The staff just know what they are doing. I felt safe and cared for

  05 May 2020

• Less wait for treatment

  05 May 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for taking the time to respond. We understand the frustration of a long waiting list. We have several treatment options and some incur longer waiting lists. We experience a lot of people who do not turn up for appointments and this will increase the waiting time for others. We are always looking at why we have a waiting time in some areas and ways to reduce our lists.

• The appointment was on time. I was listened to, I felt the treatment offered was suitable The process was carried out in a professional way. I feel i have turned a corner.

  22 Apr 2020

• Therapist easy to talk to. She remained professional.

  20 Apr 2020

• You can get the same information from library books/online.

  20 Apr 2020

• One member of staff on the course was dithering, so i lost my concentration. Better staff training?

  20 Apr 2020

  Our reply

  Thank you for your response. Your feedback is appreciated. Some of our practitioners are still in training, however they will be facilitating a course with a trained member of staff and have regular supervision along with their professional training at Exeter University.

• It allows to find a way to relax

  14 Apr 2020

• Good all round communication

  13 Apr 2020