FOUR AND TWENTY DEAD CROWS TABLE OF CONTENTS FOUR AND TWENTY DEAD CROWS #1 'Emergency!' Published Aug 19, 2024 My daughter, Meg, is first admitted into CAMHS services after more than two years on a waiting list and we are introduced to Mark Birbeck who is appointed as her psychotherapist. DEAD CROWS 'A bit about informed consent and transference, counter-transference and idealised transference.' Published Sept 15, 2024 References and citations from the British Associati

So, why title my blog, ‘Four and Twenty Dead Crows’? You might have been reminded of the English nursery rhyme, ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’, the common version of which goes like this ‘Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, The birds began to sing. Wasn't that a dainty dish To set before the king? The king was in his counting house, Counting out his money. The queen was in the parlour, Eating bread and

I had been deeply disturbed by Sean Dale Malloy’s revelation. It seemed obvious to me that he had overstepped, had disclosed facts that were probably meant to have been kept secret and this just added to my festering distrust. There was an overwhelming sense that I was being managed behind the scenes, being lied to, that I was the subject of a very real conspiracy. A quick Google search reminds us that a ‘conspiracy’ is usually defined as a secret plan or agreement between pe

The gatekeepers to 'talking therapies' are as principled as nightclub bouncers, less truculant, maybe more passive-aggressive. Or at least, that has been my experience. I basked under a fleeting sunrise of optimism following my return to Basingstoke. My excursion along the South Coast Path had surely convinced the community mental health team at The Bridge Centre that I was seriously unwell. I was wrong. Laura Jones called me late in the morning on the 4th of May, 2022 to dis

I walked wearily to the campsite reception, sat down outside the site shop and checked for text messages on my mobile phone. There was one from my daughter, Meg who wrote ‘police are knocking’ and another from Hampshire Police, pestering me for an update of my whereabouts and safety. I called them first. I came to an agreement with the police woman on the other end of the line. I tell her roughly where I am and they leave me alone for twenty four hours. I told her that I had

27th April, 2022. I thought I had planned my walk reasonably well. It was fourteen miles between the rail station at Weymouth and Lulworth Cove where I had booked a tent pitch at a campsite. While I had definitely anticipated an arduous journey I hadn’t expected the extremes of the ups and downs of the path ahead. The South Coast Path is like a rollercoaster. One moment I was at sea level and the next I was hundreds of feet at the tops of cliffs. I wanted to reach the campsit

27th April, 2022. I left the flat before sunrise and trudged the ten minute walk to Basingstoke station, my pop-up tent flapping comically from my laden rucksack. I bought a one way ticket to Weymouth and caught the first train out of Basingstoke. The carriage was warm and the morning still early so I made myself comfortable in my seat and prepared for the almost two and a half hour journey. The English countryside rolled by under a newly risen sun. I was glad to be putting

Here follows the letter sent by email to CAMHS General Manager, Wanda Reynolds just prior to my ‘walk’ on the 27th April, 2022. This letter is, for all intent and purposes, a suicide note. I now know that the psychological distress felt by me at this time was bordering on mental disorder. My confusion was profound and I was beginning to doubt my own sense of reality. Things would only begin to make sense seven weeks later when the first of my access to records requests was di

By mid-February, 2022, I had been appointed a new GP by the name of Dr Dougan. I have positive memories of Dr Dougan and her colleague, Kirsty Smith. I was carried, by both, through six truly dark and troubling weeks as CMHT and iTalk bounced me back and forth like a mouldy hot potato and Social Services hemmed and hawed. Medical records seem to suggest Dr Dougan’s frustration in dealing with CMHT and recorded a conversation with iTalk, quoting Kylie Selholm as saying she ‘fe

I made further appeals following receipt of Sally Mungall’s ‘CAMHS closing letter’, first to Gail Gray and then again to Sally herself on the 21st March, 2022. The response from the CAMHS Team Secretary, Gail Gray, failed to address my concerns while another response from an unidentified ‘duty clinician’ was simply confusing. Sally remained inexplicably silent. Then, at 09.03 on the 22nd March, 2022, I received the following email ‘Dear Mr Stock, Thank you for your email and

13th March 2022 Almost six weeks had slipped past since I had received the call informing me of the cancellation of my meeting with Sally Mungall. I had been both polite and patient while desperately holding onto a fast eroding belief that Sally was still captured by those same ‘unforeseen circumstances’ described by the CAMHS receptionist. That belief was being slowly swallowed alive by a pernicious distrust that tightened its grip around my windpipe and I struggled for rare

Kirsty Henry forwarded a written account of her mental health assessment in a letter dated 16th February, 2022. The account was summarised by ‘recommendations by MDT’, which means that a multidisciplinary team convened to discuss my case and decisions were made as to the best course of action. The letter concluded, ‘We have referred you to iTalk for counselling and CBT skills. I have kindly asked that you have carers

Bill’s Crisis assessment recommendation was acted upon almost immediately and I was offered an appointment for a ‘SOON’ mental health assessment with the CMHT ( community mental health team ) at The Bridge Centre, Basingstoke within days. That appointment was cancelled shortly after and another appointment was offered for the 7th Feb. It was less than a three week wait but I remember it still seemed interminably long. And then the unexpected happened! On February the 2nd, the

Medical records confirm that safeguarding measures were initiated by Sally Mungall immediately following the ‘review’ meeting on the 13th January, 2022. One referral made its way via the Community Mental Health Team at The Bridge Centre, Basingstoke and straight to the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team ( CRHTT ) at Parklands Hospital in Basingstoke. Another referral made its way to Adult Services Hampshire. Sally also called my GP at Brambly Grange, Basingstoke and spoke

13th January 2022. As Meg and I made our way towards CAMHS, Bramblys Drive for her second ‘review’ meeting I was so distraught that I hardly knew how to contain myself. I had forewarned Meg that I might need to be ‘assertive’ in my attempts to advocate on her behalf. I needed to be absolutely sure that provision for Meg’s continued mental healthcare was available beyond CAMHS. My gut feeling told me it wasn’t. We were greeted by Sally and Mark and ushered into a small room.

I have often referred to the Christmas holidays of 2021 as being the moment that I experienced my unprecedented mental health breakdown. While it is technically true that a number of extenuating circumstances converged at this very particular point on the calendar, the actual full blown mental breakdown carried over the next four months like a slow motion car crash. The first few days spent with Meg were balanced precariously on an emotional see-saw. Outwardly I presented nor

23rd December, 2021. So, after around just ten minutes, Mark Birbeck made his excuses and withdrew from the first of the two scheduled ‘review’ meetings leaving Meg and I with Sally Mungall. It was the first time that Meg had actually met Sally and she would meet her just once more on the 13th January, 2022. Looking back it seems remarkable that Sally met with my daughter on just two occasions, both at the dog-end of therapy with Mark Birbeck. Revelations made available thro

The third and final time that I met with Mark Birbeck alone was on the 5th November 2021. Meg had, yet again and with extreme short notice, decided that she was too unwell to attend her scheduled therapy appointment and I was close to my wits end. There were just four remaining therapy sessions left before she turned 18 and yet still no discernible alleviation in any of her symptoms. Any opportunity to talk about Meg’s progress in therapy was confined to 'Parent Work' with Sa

23rd December, 2021 Meg had already celebrated her 18th birthday by the time we made our way to the first of two scheduled ‘review’ meetings with Sally Mungall and Mark Birbeck. Arrangements had already been made for an additional four therapy appointments, postponing Meg’s discharge from CAMHS by a few short weeks. Her final therapy session with Mark was to be held on the 28th January, 2022 but it felt like time had already run out. Meg was hanging on borrowed time and I was

So, about ‘that letter’, the 12 page letter that I wrote to Sally Mungall during the week between the 16th and 23rd of December, 2021, the same letter that ignited so much hysteria among so many mental healthcare professionals. Well, here is ‘that letter’, published for the first time for anyone who cares to read it. At first I was only going to publish the second part of the letter. The first part referenced two ‘gifts’ that I had prepared for Sally, the first ‘gift’ being a