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Yeah so Victoria's system for ADHD stuff is completely fucked.
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9-12 months ago my GP emailed me a list of doctors to try calling and see if they're available? suitable? I dunno, and they'd give me a referral. I finally manage to find the spoons to actually do it and I make a bunch of phonecalls that go nowhere.
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Finally get through to a human reception person at one clinic, and they're not taking on new patients (of course they aren't) and basically can't help at all.
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Another place has a 2 week wait to even start processing referrals, you may not get in, and then it's a 6+ month wait to even see someone.
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The whole system is pretty well designed to be really hard to navigate if you actually have ADHD so imagine how long the wait would be if everyone who needed it could figure this out in less than a year?
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@mike it suuuuuuuucks
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@daedalus I found a really nice GP in the last couple of years who actually said she'd help me navigate the system but the last time I got my shit together enough to try dealing, she'd gone on maternity leave and her replacement is awful and barely even sympathetic to my high blood pressure.
Periodically checking their site to see if she's back on deck again.
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@mike Boo to that. I've been lucky with a couple of GPs that are generally nice and good (my preferred one moved practice and is harder to get to and I miss her, but the dude I see now is also nice) but the whole mental health setup is just really fucked.
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@daedalus 😞 yep. Is very crap. I gave up and know of several others who have too. I’ve ‘survived’ this long, so 🤷🏼♂️ 
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@daedalus Same in SA. There’s 5 ADHD specialists, none of them are taking new patients, and honestly, there’s almost no psychiatrists in the state that are taking patients at all for anything. There’s no clear pathway to get an assessment, you just kind of “luck into it” if you manage to see a psychiatrist who is willing to consider it.
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@Tarale it’s hugely fucked and I am already tilting at enough windmills because privileged fuckwits aren’t doing heir jobs I don’t have time to try fixing this shit too I am just so tired
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@daedalus It IS hugely fucked, apparently all over the country. I shouldn’t consider myself “lucky” if a doctor acknowledges that ADHD is real.
Although I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that this nation of cops seems to think the whole thing is just slackers looking for excuses…
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@Tarale ayup. And I’m lucky because I can largely manage and have a lot of privilege and resources and whatnot. There are people much worse off than me and I shudder to think how they cope with this stupid fuckery. Not well, by all reports.
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@Tarale anyhow I’m sure you know and this isn’t news. Just… solidarity I guess.
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@daedalus I do, and it’s not. I consider myself extremely lucky that I, well, lucked into a psychiatrist who actually took the idea seriously. I know most people don’t, and then there’s very little you can actually do about it. Same for autism if you’re an adult. I keep being told I should get help through the NDIS, if only I could prove to them that I do…
@daedalus I saw mine pretty quickly. But I can't remember his name :/
It was a weird process though. My GP referred me to a guy for both that and autism. The dude she referred me to didn't have any expertise in ADHD, though. So, he gave me the contact for a bulk billing place in Richmond. I wish I could remember the details, though. It was the before times, I'm afraid
@daedalus but you might have some luck if you look up places in Richmond?
@drbuttocks There's The Melbourne Clinic on Church St in Richmond?
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@daedalus I last took a run at this in 2014 and have been working myself up to giving it another go ever since.