Goodall Centre - Bishop Auckland

Eze

I was a little apprehensive based on these reviews before my assessment today. When I got there I thought the waiting area was far too small, cramped, and without anywhere to sit. Considering some of the difficulties people are dealing with that come here, it was a little of a shock. I had to squeeze in about a yard behind a woman who had to move next to me because she said she was anxious about having people behind her.

My initial assessment with Gail was excellent. She was empathetic, patient and knowledgeable. I felt welcome throughout the assessment and feel I have helped into the right direction.

While they may be understaffed, it seems almost every other business, organisation and especially the public services have been understaffed for the last decade at least. It seems very harsh to give the staff here a hard time if they're overworked. The receptionist was also polite and easy to understand.

Jasmine Preen

Spent a year trying to get my ADHD meds. Ignored my calls and emails.
Asked for information on my assessment they already had and had even sent me before.
Randomly ghosted me multiple times and had to get my GP to force them to contact me.
Said they would contact me on a particular day and then contacted me Sunday morning 4 months later and didn't even leave a number call them back on.

Honestly at the point where I'm wondering if I can sue for medical negligence. Disgusting care for vulnerable people. They should be shut down.

ANTIPSYCHIATRIC SELF

I’ve been in and out of mental healthcare for 12 years and I can honestly say the Goodall is the darkest corner of NHS mental healthcare I have ever endured. It’s odd because they have so much light and potential. Staff have so much knowledge about process and at times seem believable and all good but they practice a closed culture and some of the most impressive people in the building who may take in their patients trust are abusers and every staff member there KNOWS and should be embarrassed that they don’t protect vulnerable patients, whistleblowers go nowhere, management is toxic and unregulated (hopefully Wes Streeting solves this problem), the care quality commission tolerate the abuses they do and they still blame underfunding. If staff worked honestly and dealt with the shadows within mental healthcare they’d get better energy, earnt trust and probably better reviews. They in actuality abuse members of the public, people leave more broken than when they came. I thought I met staff who were honourable, I put them on a pedestal and I’m sorry I did. The NHS mental healthcare staff are just as embittered as the public, they act like the service is free (its funded by the public) and the public are theirs to abuse. Let them self victimise. I’ve seen the light and dark in the service, I’ve had several illnesses over my life and I don’t believe in diagnosis, the way society is going everyone will be diagnosed, believing they have to suffer illness their entire lifetime (nonsense!) and even though mental healthcare will be free for everyone we will have given the mind to the state and in reality that’s not a conviction I stand by. THE MIND SHOULD NOT BELONG TO THE STATE. I believe in the SELF, I know freedom exists. I KNOW there is a mystery in “Walker Drive”, I stand by my conviction THAT building is a deluded spiritual organization, that doctor does not fool me and I have suffered his abuse. I’m no victim and I will heal myself through shamanism. He can have his followers and sidekicks, maybe he was a good man once. Patients can seek diagnosis and see it as the salvation to their suffering, psychiatry breeds this idea, I say people are more profound. I don’t mind positive reviews but I stand in solidarity with the many patients that suffer due to the abuses of state mental healthcare. Liberate your SELF from that place. You don’t need to go, good things may be ahead and suicidal thoughts aren’t forever, you were born to be loved and love will never truly be in that building or organisation whatever the state masks as empathy. Anti-psychiatry has much to offer and I say think outside the box, believe in your SELF and pity the psychiatrists, nurses, managers and care coordinators who are consumed by the shadows and monsters of the system. They probably believed in something better once and just got stuck, don’t suffer them and their passive aggression or worse. I believe in the patients that leave, even the people wise enough to not go at all and I send them LOVE.

Sarah Devereux

Been with them for some years now and its just one letdown after another. I'm feeling worse now after years of their "care" than I did when I was referred. I have to constantly phone multiple times just to get a call back from my care coordinator and I get made promises that never materialise. Today I decided to call after 3 weeks of waiting to hear back from my care coordinator only to be told she left about 2 weeks ago which nobody ever told me was happening/happened. Nobody else has bothered to contact me in that time and I have no clue who my new care coordinator is, if I even have one. The Goodall Centre shouldn't be allowed to keep running as it's only making mental health in the area worse rather than better.

Jaz P

Extremely disheartening, a broken service. Little empathy and understanding, staff are overworked with over 40 people per caseworker and not one psychologist to provide any treatment. Told to complain to care quality commission after 6 months of not receiving any treatment. I was told I was not underweight enough to access eating disorder services; which has affected me greatly as I’ve struggled with bulimia since I was a teenager.
I’m mentally worse off because I tried to access the goodall centre in bishop Auckland.
Please keep this in mind for your loved ones who have been referred for this service as they will definitely need your support.

J C

I was psychologically mistreated here and bullied on a in appropriate and unecessary phone call by a doctor. I was then gaslighted about this abuse through the complaints system by him. My former care coordinator also lied through the complaints system about calling me twice when I was in tears and I know she is a liar as I have read my medical notes. I got ptsd from a building I once trusted and held in high respect, I am a vulnerable adult and have never felt more hurt and ill in my adult life and it is down to staff behaviour. This building operates a closed system of abuse and is broken.

Alex Wright

Continuously ignored me. Were getting back to me after weekly team meeting. Over 3 months later heard nothing. NHS complaint in. Next I receive a letter with an appointment for the day before it arrived. I ring up, explain and leave the message for the relevant person. 12 weeks later, no response. I am grateful we have an NHS service but people are worse after being referred here. Know just being ignored and self worth etc suffers. Cannot say it's a one off either. Very bad.
Used to be ok, but not now

Anthony McDonough

Waited 3 weeks for an appointment, it was cancelled 1 hour before I was due to go, waited another 3 weeks for an appointment, had an appointment with a women called Caroline Tweddall at 3pm, she was 15 minutes late, she couldn't care less, my 1 hour appointment was 20 minutes of her time, she didn't seem interested at all, left confused that I had waited 6 weeks for this. I was home by 4.05pm.

For Caroline Tweddall to have a title called, Associate Nurse Consultant, her non caring behaviour and lateness was disgraceful.