My name’s Steph and I’d like to share with you my best friend Cam’s story.
Camilla has had mental health problems most of her teenage years and adult life. She will be 30 in July. We, her close friends and family, want to give her the gift of finally getting the right treatment. She has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but it is also likely that she has PTSD. On top of that, she has an eating disorder, and has battled with self harm and suicide attempts for the best part of 15 years.
We all know that there is serious underfunding of the mental health services in the NHS. It is something that we all struggle with as a nation with delays for urgent treatment. Cam waited many years for therapy, and when she finally got it, it was offered only for a few short months. She has had no other treatment for such a long time, we are now desperate.
We believe that proper residential treatment is what she really needs. This is not available to her on the NHS so it is clear that obtaining it privately is the only option left to save her life. She is getting progressively worse, with several suicide attempts already this year. Cam often says that she can't live like this any longer.
Underneath the illness Cam is a bright, talented, thoughtful, capable and caring person. She could lead a normal happy life with the right therapy. The place we have found has a wide range of therapies which would be important for her as she often finds it very difficult to talk. £63,000 will give her six months at this residential centre. Please do share, even if you can't donate.
Thank you so much.