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LOCAL mum Jody Parker spent five weeks in the Panorama Clinic earlier this year.
She says those five weeks saved her life.
Ms Parker was suffering from the effects of extreme anxiety and non-diagnosed post traumatic stress disorder. Her distress had become so acute she was unable to function.
As the mother of three autistic boys, she knew if she was going to be there for her family, she had to accept help.
“If you saw me then, you wouldn’t have recognised me as the same person,” she said.
“I was having severe panic attacks. It was a shock. You don’t think something like this will happen to you.
“That is why it is critical the Panorama Clinic stays open.
“I feel I represent a lot of ordinary people who would, at some time or other, use the clinic.
“If it hadn’t been available to me when I needed it, I don’t know where I’d be today.”
Ms Parker said anyone can develop depression or anxiety, and sometimes these feelings reach crisis point. It is then that you need a safe haven like the Panorama Clinic.
She said the great thing about the clinic was that she was treated with respect.
“I couldn’t imagine being sent off to Bloomfield. It would have been an entirely different experience,” she said.
“I had my own room. The clinic also has a family room where the kids could come and visit me, and this really helped with the process.
“There is a real dignity that comes through about this place.
“It was an encouraging environment. As well as helping me through the crisis, they taught me the skills I needed to sustain me when I left.”
Ms Parker added that there was also a lot of support and encouragement from the other patients who were ordinary people just like her.
“We could relate to each other and support each other. It took away any stigma,” she said.
“What could have been a shattering experience became a positive one.
“So when I heard the Panorama Clinic could close, I thought about what might have happened to me if it hadn’t been there. I would have been terrified to go to Bloomfield. I was filled with anxiety, and it would have made that anxiety a lot worse.”
Ms Parker said the staff at Panorama Clinic were fantastic.
They were knowledgeable, compassionate, warm and encouraging.
“I found my stay there an empowering experience. I went in very unwell and came out with my dignity still intact,” she said.
“The last thing we need is to have a really good facility, that is doing its job, taken away.
“The Panorama Clinic has proved to be successful and extremely beneficial to our community, why mess with that?”