OPEN DOOR IS DOING ITS BEST

OPEN DOOR IS a free support service available to University of York students who want to speak with a Mental Health Practitioner or Student Wellbeing Officer about mental health or psychological difficulties. If you are not in an urgent crisis but feel as though you need some kind of support, Open Door can offer you a series of sessions. Some people have found this service very helpful and praised it for getting through a tough time, but other people have had a more mixed experience. I am in the second camp.

The last summer term was very difficult for me, for a multitude of reasons, so on the advice of friends, I referred myself to Open Door. I had my first hour-long session where I genuinely felt listened to and had a safe space to verbally go through some stuff in the name of establishing a plan of action for future sessions. My next session was a month later, during which time my mental health got measurably worse, and my hour long session was ended after about 28 minutes. While I can’t remember the exact words used, I felt that my practitioner thought I was doing ‘fine enough’.

I just had the impression the whole session that my mental health issues were not severe enough for the service, that I ranked a six on a service that only had room to take nine-10s, that because the only practitioning service I had available to me had judged me as not requiring their help then it was up to me alone to resolve these issues with abilities that I simply didn’t have, leading into one of the lowest and unhealthiest period of my life. And I don’t blame Open Door for this one bit. With the current state of nationwide mental health services, I believe Open Door is doing the best it can under almost impossible circumstances.

Mental health support services in this country are fucked, and the Tory sychophants responsible for unsustainable spending cuts to vital services should be treated like murderers. As per The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 23% of adults have to wait over three months to start treatment, and I, like many others, viewed the waiting times as so large that the NHS route wasn’t even worth bothering with as ‘one way or another, the issue will be resolved by the time I even get an initial assessment’.

That leaves paying for private practitioning. This year I am in an incredibly privileged position where I can afford the £40-£80 costs of an average session and have been able to progress my mental health journey that way, but how many students this year can afford that when those most at need are struggling to pay for food and heating?

Being the only option for so many students, at a time when so many students are suffering mental health difficulties, must place enormous pressure on everyone at Open Door, so of course the quality of the service varies and has to vary so that it can at least attempt to meet some of the needs of peo-

Bottom Line: Open Door

TRANS WOMAN AND influencer, Nikita Dragun, was put into a men’s holding unit after being arrested and charged with misdemeanour, disorderly conduct, and felony battery of a law enforcement officer. The placing of a trans woman into a men’s prison highlights that the American criminal justice system leaves almost no room for gender variance. There is no care or thought for the fact that trans inmates’ lives are being carelessly put in danger. The fact that transgender inmates are 13 times more likely to experience sexual violence whilst incarcerated should be a massive cause for concern for everyone- yet nothing has changed.

Equally, the physical danger to trans inmates forms only one part of the problem. The fact that Dragun was seen by the court as male is horrifying. Facing both fear of physical violence and misgendering, the already difficult experience for Dragun was exemplified by the court’s cruel treatment of her. By placing her in the male quarter, the court has signalled to all trans people that the law does not recognise or respect who they are.