Forest House - Young people and parent/carer stories

I would like to commend Alexa Mwanza as an excellent therapist; I understand she will now be working in a DBT team and I think she will excel there. Alexa was professional in every way with both us and my daughter. She gave us advice that allayed fears when she was able, but that was cautious and realistic of the risks when necessary. Her manner is approachable, direct and she certainly connected fully with my daughter and showed great insight into her problems. I cannot recommend her enough.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you with all my heart for all you have done for our daughter. I never thought when she went into hospital last September 2017 that our journey would be so long, so hard, so challenging, so difficult and so emotional for us all. You are an amazing Consultant who all went above and beyond to do all that you could do to help her. To reassuring her when she really felt she couldn't do it anymore, to your postcard trip around the world, listening to her and holding her hand. She trusted you always despite the days that she really struggled and felt there was no point. For always believing in her that she could recover. You are always professional and at the same time you are compassionate, warm, caring and so dedicated to your work and what you do. I know we are lucky that she is still with us today and that circumstances could have been so different. Our daughter is very precious to us and I thank you for everything you have done for her.

Thank you for all the help and support you gave me during my stay at Forest House. There were many times I felt like I had no hope but you all guided me down the right path to happiness. The biggest THANK YOU is for saving my life on many occasions because now I see light and I am finding my way. I will miss you all dearly.

Compliment from young person speaking at a conference about her experience of mental health and part of her speech was dedicated to Dr Van den Broucke and how if it wasn't for him 'believing her' she wouldn't have got hold of her mental health and be where she is today. She said 'If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be where I am today - Big up Dr Van den Broucke' ! I just wanted to feed this back to you and thank you for what you're doing for the young people at FH. You're having a big impact! Additionally her mother spoke very highly of the support she received at FH from the parent/carer group. She called it invaluable and said she felt very supported.