Bright & Positive Future

Before I started attending Mosaic Clubhouse I had left education (sixth form college) due to my immense difficulty reading and writing greatly affecting my studies and my 1st year exams which was a result of my Severe OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) that I got diagnosed a little later on. I was unhappy about the fact of leaving education, leaving my friends behind while they move on to the year above and me just being stuck at square one, or worse. This always played on my mind as I didn’t like feeling behind and feeling like a failure.

I decided to seek for help, finally getting referred to therapy which was CAMHS. I was under 18 at the time. They gave me the fundamentals of how anxiety works, and started getting therapy directly from someone CBT trained. Throughout my CBT therapy, they had been trying to get me to do homework or exposure experiments related to my anxiety such as going to the supermarket and noting down my anxiety levels for certain triggers or situations. Around this time it was very difficult to get out of the house, to even do anything. My treatment finished at CAMHS and I felt that I still needed help. Got referred to the Michael Rutledge Center near Kings College Hospital which specialized in under 18 mental health problems. They gave me more in depth knowledge of how my anxiety is linked to the OCD; started trying to do exposure response prevention work and it went really well.
 

The underlying problems were still there so I lastly got referred to ADRU(Anxiety Disorders Residential Unit) based in Bethlem Hospital. This treatment consisted of specialized CBT therapy nearly every day, while living and sleeping there for a period of a few months together with other OCD sufferers. Throughout my stay, I got to know more about how to go against my OCD through the therapy and also got to know the other OCD Residents. I became friends with them and also learnt a bit about their own OCD, which was a nice perspective and made it an environment where we could share our problems and advice on dealing with the OCD, while also giving each other support through the treatment and living together. I was eager learning ways to handle my OCD, tackling the triggers, feelings of anxiety, doubt, and how to approach it in an Anti-OCD manner. Although this was fairly good, I still struggled to firmly follow the treatment and mainly my eating, sleeping routine was really messed up, therefore affecting my attendance greatly to the therapy sessions. I was discharged from the treatment because of this and my Therapist told me I could return to ADRU when I would be more ready and prepared for the treatment.

To this day I still struggle getting to places on time, sometimes I make it surprisingly early, most of the time quite late. As I’ve been going to Mosaic Clubhouse this often repeats itself and usually Staff members and Mosaic members have been quite supportive about it, encouraging me to get here on time and usually we joke about how late I turned up on the day. A staff member occasionally gives phone calls to see how I was doing.I Found this very helpful as much as I hate to admit it, in my current state I have to be prompted and reminded of things to get things done, which I’m trying to tackle at the moment in order to gain a sense of independence and responsibility. The staff members are very friendly and easy to get along with which helps lift up my mood and the atmosphere around us. One staff member recently helped me apply for apprenticeships as I am currently seeking work in the future, once I polish up on my routine and attendance by going to Mosaic Clubhouse daily.

I quite like the organisation at Mosaic as they usually have something to do for everyone if they ask, such as doing queries, database, spreadsheet, entering internal events, making posters, typing up letters, petty cash and more. Also the staff members sometimes take me to meetings which are quite informative and offer a nice insight into what Mosaic Clubhouse is involved with and what they may potentially have in mind for future plans for the Organisation. The courses and events they set up are quite helpful, in terms of learning something new although I’ve had great difficulty attending most of them, except for reading group as that is usually held much later around 6:30pm. The only thing I can say is there to be more tasks, events and courses to occupy members with especially a language course such as Mandarin as I am quite interested in that.

I am now doing an Access to Business Course which will allow me to access a degree in finance.
Thank you to whoever is reading about my story and my experience at Mosaic Clubhouse.
Here’s to the bright positive future!

"The staff members are very friendly and easy to get along with which helps lift up my mood and the atmosphere around us"

Find out more

Find out more about our young adults programme.

Contact Us

Mosaic Clubhouse
65 Effra Road, Brixton
London, SW2 1BZ
Tel: 020 7924 9657
Email: Infohub@mosaic-clubhouse.org

About Us

Mosaic Clubhouse is part of a worldwide network of clubhouses that exist to provide support and opportunities to people living with a mental health condition.

Mosaic Clubhouse is a registered charity No: 1071705. Company No: 3403522          

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