Joe’s story – Fife.
“I was struggling to tell my addiction nurse how I was feeling.”
Joe wanted changes to his methadone and he also wanted to reduce it on a regular basis.
His mental health was knocked and he felt sedated on the current doses.
So when Joe first came to Circles Network, if his advocate was to ask him how he was feeling his default response would be “fine.”
Part of the work Joe was supported to complete, was to create a list of points he wanted to discuss at his next appointment with his addiction nurse. His advocate would also go along to the appointments with him, in order to help him express his views.
At the appointment Joe met with a different nurse than usual and explained how he was feeling about his mental health, and that he wanted to regularly reduce his methadone with his focus on moving to Buvidal.
The nurse advised “I’ll arrange an assessment of your mental health with a psychiatrist and with addiction services who will also take a look at the medication prescribed.”
The nurse explained a pause on reducing the methadone would be the best way forward, while assessing and changing Joe’s mental health medication.
Once Joe’s mental health was more stable, the reduction in methadone would start.
Joe felt relieved. He was very happy with the outcome and felt the nurse had listened to him.
The nurse took on board what he wanted, how he was feeling and understood that he was supported in taking the leap to expressing his own views.
