My experience with voices

"In the early days of hearing voices, it was quite shocking. I was worried and kept it to myself – I started spending more time on my own. The voices were clear enough, but I knew they were in my head. They would say vulgar, murderous stuff – it was really distressing.

For the first time in a long time I felt I did not understand myself. Something was going on and I wasn’t sure of myself: I wondered, is this how I am now?

It started during a period where I was under a lot of relationship-related stress. It took six weeks for me to decide to find out what help was available."

Seeking mental health support

"I went to my GP first, who referred me to a Lambeth Living Well Hub: I had an assessment there and was referred to OASIS. I imagined it would be long before getting help because I know the NHS is slow, but it was much quicker than I thought.

I didn’t have any negative preconceptions of mental health services. I was quite cynical thinking “what help would simple talking therapy do?” The reality is that there is something about voicing thoughts and getting a different perspective which is good."

The OASIS assessment

"The initial assessment at OASIS was pretty good – it was really reassuring and easy going. There was not really anything I would change. We had an hour to go over the questions and my assessor shed some light on my experiences."

Psychology at OASIS

"Psychology is like an in-depth talk about the experiences you’re having: it gets you thinking about the context in which they happened and the state you were in at the time.

Psychology provides a new perspective helping you to take measures to stop or alleviate them from happening again.

Once I understood some of my beliefs I held about relationships, it was about changing them and becoming more aware of some bad habits. I have learnt new coping strategies, such as changing my attitude and “not caring as much”. I would invest so much in relationships, expect a new person to be my all and expect all these grand things... now I am changing that for the future."

Keyworking at OASIS

"It has been super useful. I get to talk about what’s happened in the week – it is a dedicated window to talk. I have had job support too which has been really helpful – I had just graduated and realised I had no money and no job: my keyworker helped me understand roles and routes to take to get a job I want. He also helped me with my cover letter and things like that." 

Learning to manage my unusual experiences

"Before OASIS, I was lacking awareness of how I interpreted odd experiences. That’s changed now and I don’t keep all my thoughts and feelings inside anymore, which pushed me over.

At OASIS I learned what keeps me well: keeping myself in good company with certain friends, coming to OASIS and being in a therapeutic environment helped even before I started my psychology sessions. I’ve shared my difficulties with my friends and they’ve been more supportive. Before, they would come to me for help - now they listen to me too."