Cheshire Patient Describes Life-Changing Care

A service user from a mental health hospital in Cheshire has spoken about the life-changing support she has received which has finally enabled her to look positively at the future after the loss of her daughter.

Prior to her admission at Cygnet Nield House, Jude Thorniley spent over a decade on enhanced observations in an acute ward following the death of her daughter and other dark experiences in her early life.

She explained: “These childhood wounds left me with an impending sense of doom in anticipation of being harmed again.

“I sensed threat in everyone and everything around me and felt unable to tolerate being alone which made me almost entirely dependent on a care team and the confines of a hospital to help me feel protected and manage the uncertainty of every day.

“A typical day consisted of isolating myself in my bedroom and over-sleeping to avoid emotional pain; I felt trapped in the past, as though I was coasting on survival mode not wholeheartedly living and believed that I would remain in hospital until my last day.”

Cygnet Nield House, on Barrows Green, Bradfield Road in Crewe, is a 29-bed mental health hospital for women run by Cygnet Health Care.

Jude explained that she was sceptical when she first arrived as it was totally different to any other mental health setting she had been in before. But it soon became clear the service would change her life for the better.

She said: “The service gave me a safe space to claim back the narrative of my life. Therapies were tailored to meet my outstanding treatment needs instead of simply ‘ticking the box’.

“Nield House has not attempted to rush my recovery but instead used a graded approach in respect of all aspects of my care (nursing, occupational therapy, dietetics and psychology) to promote independence, empowerment and healing.

“This has allowed me to broaden and consolidate my repertoire of coping skills, establish secure attachments with both members of staff and fellow peers which has equipped me with the emotional tools needed to engage in high intensity trauma work.

“This has begun to significantly reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and reshape the lens through which I view myself, others and the world.

“My admission to Nield House gave me something to wake up for until I slowly began to regain a genuine sense of enjoyment previously lost.”

Jude added that thanks to support from Nield House, she has reconnected with her hobbies including table tennis, gardening, coffee dates, making flower arrangements, and fundraising for charity.

She said: “I can clearly envision myself outside of hospital. I have goals and plans that I want to stick around for.

“The multidisciplinary team at Nield House rescued me, and for the first time in forever, I actually think things are going to be okay.

“I want to encourage anyone who sees a glimpse of themselves in me to choose recovery, because it’s truly worth it and more possible than you might think.”