How Open Mental Health Supports Your Patients: Alan’s Story
After you refer a patient to Open Mental Health, they will be contacted by the locality team for their area. Where appropriate, one of our recovery and wellbeing workers will hold one-to-one sessions with them to support their specific goals. Alan’s story is a great example of how this person-centred approach can help someone regain their independence.
Starting Point and Goals
When Alan was referred to us, he had already completed twenty sessions with Talking Therapies. He was struggling with severe agoraphobia and experiencing up to six panic attacks a day. At that point, he was effectively housebound. He only felt able to leave his parents’ home at night in their car, and even then, he still suffered from panic attacks. His anxiety was so intense that just having a stranger in the house caused him severe stress.
To address these challenges, Alan had clear goals. He wanted to regain his independence, go out alone, travel by bike, and, most importantly, meet his son and accompany him on outings. He also recognised that his weight and lack of fitness were playing a part in his panic and wanted to change this.
Taking Small Steps
Alan began with very small steps. We met him at his house and took short walks in the surrounding countryside, gradually extending the distance at a pace he felt comfortable with.
To help improve his fitness, we encouraged him to use his bike, a treadmill, and weights. We also discussed how a change in diet, focusing on reducing his carbohydrate intake, could help. Given his extreme anxiety around new people, building a trusting relationship was an essential part of his progress. By gently widening his comfort zone, we saw his confidence grow. A shared interest in nature and wildlife helped turn what could have been a highly stressful task into an enjoyable experience.
Outcomes and Progress
In just over six months, the changes were significant. Alan lost 20kg and gained around 6kg of muscle. He is now able to face his fears directly—he recently stood on a motorway bridge, experienced increasing panic, and successfully recovered on his own. He can meet his son much further from home, and they have even built a camp together.
The number of panic attacks he experiences has fallen dramatically. Having made such excellent progress, Alan asked to pause our sessions, intending to return later to establish new goals.
He shared this update on his progress:
“I’ve been walking around the fields, and the other day there was travellers down the road towards the bridge camping, so I went down. It was nice talking to some new people and seeing their dogs and horses!”
Alan’s progress is just one example of how we work alongside your patients to build confidence and improve resilience. His recovery journey was recently featured in our new animation, which explains more about Open Mental Health and the services we provide across Somerset.
You can watch the short video here to see how our community-based support could help the people you see in your surgery