00:00My name is Sedona Jamieson. I was at St Andrews for two and a half years. From the age of 15,
00:11I've struggled with my mental health. Before I came to St Andrews, I had been in multiple
00:16different psychiatric hospitals. I had anorexia nervosa and a diagnosis of borderline personality
00:23disorder. My risk level was very high. I was self-harming a lot. I was attempting suicide
00:29a lot. And then before I came to St Andrews, I was ending up in intensive care units on the
00:35operating table pretty regularly. When I came to St Andrews to a personality disorder specific ward,
00:42that was kind of the start of things really turning around for me. Being on a ward that was
00:47specialised to treat that meant that I could get purely targeted treatment and given therapies that
00:54are proven to help with the disorder. I felt like I was being treated like a human again,
00:59and there was that tiny bit of hope that kind of popped up. There was such a structured approach
01:04from a multidisciplinary team that was able to give not only me, but the other patients as well,
01:10a very clear structured pathway in order to get back into the real world. St Andrews was different
01:16to other hospitals I had been in because there were so many extra occupational therapy activities going on.
01:23So we had mindfulness sessions every day, we had a very rigid structure of occupational therapy activities.
01:30I finally felt that someone was giving me a way out and giving me a structured pathway that I could
01:36follow as long as I committed to it. Once I saw that bit of hope, once I saw that potential way out,
01:43I just thought, this is my life, this is my life and if I commit myself to this I can do it.
01:50I got discharged from St Andrews in 2023 and I moved into a supported accommodation. I genuinely
01:59never believed that I would get to this stage in my life and I think a lot of the professionals who
02:05worked with me didn't expect me to get this far either. For a long time everyone was convinced my
02:11behaviour was going to end in death. In my eyes as well there was no way that I was going to survive,
02:17there was no way that I wanted to survive, I didn't want that future, I didn't think it was a possibility.
02:22But now I am building my own life for myself, I'm living by myself, I'm going to university, I'm doing all
02:30these things that I never thought I'd be able to do. Hope is what got me through those last few years
02:36in hospital because moving to St Andrews when the people around me started having hope, I started
02:42having it too. I do think St Andrews changed my life. People should fund graves for the psychiatric
02:48wards within St Andrews because the extra occupational therapy activities that are offered are so important
02:55for building up people's lives to be able to live in the community again. For example on the ward we
03:01were taken to the beach for the day, we were taken to the zoo. For a lot of people who've been in hospital
03:07for a really long time they kind of forget that these things exist and having trips like that to
03:13kind of motivate everyone, having those kind of goals to work towards and having those activities
03:19it also keeps people busy, it gives someone a focus and without that you're just stuck in your
03:25head constantly. The fact that I was finally offered the right treatment, finally had a supportive
03:31group of people around me meant that that was the first chance I had any sort of shot at recovery
03:38but until then the extreme risk of my self-harm, the extreme risk of my suicide attempts meant that
03:45the longer that went on for the closer I was going to be to death and all those people that were treating
03:50me in the hospital following these incidents they were pretty sure it was going to result in
03:55death as well. So the bottom line is I think St Andrews has probably saved my life.
04:25So that's all I got in and out of my mind. I'm also going to be able to share my life with him.
04:31Please there's a lot of people that may have been beneficial and I can give you the issue here.
04:36I say I'm happy for you.
04:37It's been a part of the community that we have mentioned.
04:39I see all of my friends and friends in the community that are more challenging.
04:40So thank you.
04:42So thank you.
04:42Sorry.
04:44So thank you.
04:45So thank you very much for your saudade.
04:47What about me?
04:48For your baby?
04:50So thank you.
