Doncaster mum who spent several nights a week in A&E with health anxiety urges people to seek help for mental health struggles

Jamie Astwood has thanked the NHS service and her therapist, and is now encouraging anyone else with mental health struggles to get the support they need from the team. The 33-year-old first used Talking Therapies last year when she felt like her anxiety symptoms were taking over her life. Jamie said: “I had struggled for years with anxiety, and it had become really bad - to the point where I was spending four or five nights a week in A&E thinking I was going to die of sepsis. It was taking over my life. I am usually a happy positive person, but it sucked the life out of me.”

After speaking to her doctor, Jamie was referred to the Doncaster Talking Therapies service by her GP and went through a course of cognitive behavioural therapy. She said: “I feel like I’ve been given my life back. I have myself back.” Jamie is urging others to get in touch with the service to get support if they’re struggling. She said: “I think people get stuck in a rut and think things won’t get better and they’ll not get help. However, I promise, there is a light at the end of the tunnel."