“For many of us,we had come from situations where we faced much stigma and discrimination because of our diagnoses.”

I spent twelve months in an NHS funded private psychiatric hospital which was set up as a therapeutic community. It was 133 miles from home, so I was living in a new city away from all my family and friends.

This was like no other hospital though; it prides itself on recovery within a homely context and offered an intensive programme of therapy. It was offered to ‘complex cases’ often treating a variety of comorbid conditions.

We got our own ensuite rooms that felt much more like a home as they had carpets and we could stick things up on the walls and put our own duvet covers on.

Between the hours of 9am-5pm on weekdays was a variety of therapies, mostly in groups but also with individual psychology too. These were compulsory and we had to commit to completing the twelve month programme.

One of the most helpful things about the therapy was that it was possible to work on multiple issues. Mealtimes were supported as this was an often-difficult area for fellow community members. For most of us we had been swapped between eating disorder and community mental health teams being told we had to choose one area to work on so to be in a place that treated you as a whole person was helpful.

Mealtimes were often stressful as we were required to eat all the food provided, we could choose our food from the menus which was obviously helpful but still, it wasn’t always the easiest. On days where the menus were bad though we would all book out and go to the local pub to eat.

Not only did this community treat the psychological side of things, but they also offered social support working with an Occupational Therapist and support workers to do things such as cooking, budgeting, and going to new places.

As your twelve months progressed you would take on more responsibility such as cooking your own meals and self-medicating rather than the staff dispensing it. We would also book more leave from the hospital to help transition back to the community and our home environment.

Outside of our programme our time was our own and if we were well enough we could leave the hospital to do as we please. I took the opportunity to go walking around the city in the evenings, joined a gym and did a few courses at the local university.

There were opportunities in the hospital too, our ward had a piano, games consoles, a computer, games, books, a tv (and one that wasn’t closed into a secure box on the wall). The sofas were real too, not like the plastic ones we were all so used to on acute wards.

My favourite place on the ward was our sensory room which was full of cool lights and things to chill out to. There was a choir, monthly visits with animals from a local charity and the hall was great for sports, and not forgetting the yearly talent show.

Of course, I wasn’t always well enough to leave the ward. We had times where we had to agree to not leave the hospital and would hand in our keys. Other times we may have been temporarily sectioned though you usually would be returned to your local areas acute ward if this happened until you were well enough to engage in the programme.

The grounds of the hospital were vast and beautiful, they were lovely to walk around and made the hospital feel like an oasis as opposed to the tiny concrete yards with huge green security fences that are commonplace on acute wards.

One of my favourite things about staying in this particular hospital was them having a pet’s corner which homed a variety of animals that belonged to the hospital and also some which were personal animals of other patients. I of course used this as an opportunity to get my own pet hamster. It was not uncommon for me to go up to the shed in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep, it was even written in my care plan. I would always fuss all of the other animals – the guinea pigs and rabbits.      

 I spent Christmas in this hospital as I was too unwell to go home but far from the experience of being on an acute ward, we got a real turkey and cooked our own Christmas dinner. Our ward felt like home as we had a huge Christmas tree donated by the local Christmas tree farm. We also collected items and raised money to pay to make small bags of gifts for the patients on the two dementia wards, who would be spending their Christmas in hospital as usual too.

One of the great opportunities we had during our stay was to get involved in teaching at local universities as experts by experience. These days were always fun and great at building our self-esteem as the students always loved having us there and being able to ask us questions that they would never get the chance to in normal lectures. For some of us this led onto more opportunities to do this even after we left.

The differences between this hospital and acute wards is incomparable – the environment and access to therapy and social support was far greater and very recovery-focused.

I think the main thing that made a difference though was the way you were treated by staff and the hospital ethos. For many of us we had come from situations where we faced much stigma and discrimination because of our diagnoses. Here though we were human first.