 Hello. So today's topic is when you visit the GP, how to go about that, what to do is in response to a query that I got, but it's also a question that I get asked quite often. So people really worry about going to the GP about their mental health and lots of people have some less good experiences. So here are a few tips to try and help you get the best out of that experience, whether it's you going yourself or whether you are supporting a friend or someone that you work with. So the first thing is it's always worth asking for a recommendation either from your kind of personal network or actually calling the GP surgery and asking whether one of the partners specializes in mental health issues. So within a GP practice, there's usually quite a few GPs and you don't have to see your named GP and in the same way that if you wanted to go and talk about, I don't know, family planning, then you might ask for the expert in that. When you want to go and talk about your mental health, it's really, really good if you can talk to a GP for whom that is a particular area of interest. That usually means they'll have more up-to-date training or ideas and maybe they'll just be a bit more empathetic too. So yeah, ask for a recommendation and see the best GP within your practice. Number two, I would always recommend taking a friend or a family member. Going alone can be really scary. Sometimes you might not even make it through the door. You might be worried about what you're going to say. It's up to you whether you then choose to take that person into the appointment with you or if you just have them there for moral support. But actually just having someone be by your side before and after, even if they didn't come in, can be really, really helpful. It can be helpful to actually have someone come in with you if you are really anxious about the appointment because you might forget what's said and you might find that you don't get as much out of the appointment as you can. The other thing is you might not put all your points across that you wanted to. So having a friend with you can be really helpful for those reasons, but of course it's an entirely, you know, it's up to you. The next one is I would always actually physically prepare. So write a list, write a list down of the reasons that you're going. What are the symptoms that you've been suffering with? How long has it been going on for? Do you have any idea about what kind of might have triggered that? Is there anything else that you think that the GP needs to know about? Do you have an idea about what you think might be wrong? If you've been doing a bit of, you know, Dr. Google self-diagnosis, that sort of thing. It's all helpful. So yeah, do prepare a list of what you want to say and the things that you think it's important to communicate. Remembering that even if you get a full appointment rather than an emergency appointment, those times are really short. Have a kind of call to action if you like. So it might be that you're hoping that they will prescribe something or you're hoping they'll refer you on for a certain type of therapy that they will help you get a diagnosis. There's lots of different reasons why you might go, lots of different outcomes that you might be looking for and just have a really clear idea in mind of what that might be and ask for it when you're there. So in the same way, again, if you were going because you had a chest infection that wasn't going away and you thought what I need to do as many of us do is go along to the GP and ask for some antibiotics. The GP might say no, they might not be able to help you, but you need to go along knowing what you want and asking for it because you're very unlikely to get what you want if you don't know what that is and you don't ask. And then finally, number five is that actually we need to be a bit resilient when we go to see our GP. So there are some wonderful GPs out there and I will just take this moment to give a massive shout out to my personal GP Dr Shobie down at Parkside Practice. She is amazing. She listens endlessly. She knows me well. She's kind and caring and knows a huge amount about mental health. And so there are great GPs out there. She's far from alone. She just happens to be the one who is one of the pillars of support in my life. But not all GPs know a huge amount about mental health issues. When you think about it, they need to know about everything. And so it's not surprising that there'll be some gaps in their knowledge. Sometimes you'll get a GP who's a bit less empathetic or they don't get you or maybe the appointment doesn't go so well because you're overcome with anxiety. There's all sorts of things that might go wrong. There's all sorts of reasons why that first appointment might not get the outcome that you hoped for. And in that instance, it's really hard. But what we need to be able to do is pick ourselves back up and go back, go see someone different, try and have a different experience and try again, because it doesn't have to be like that. So I hope that helps. I hope that helps you feel a bit more prepared for going to see a GP or, you know, advising a friend or someone that you're working with. Please do take a moment to leave comments below with any ideas that you have that you found helpful or things that you found to be less good. So kind of both barriers and suggestions and your experiences too. And if you have a great GP, give them a shout out below. They don't get enough love. 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