– I do not feel as well as I would like, and am left to myself, says Maria Josephine Bjørkli. The 20-year-old from Fredrikstad has long struggled with anorexia, but is currently out of treatment. That does not mean she is healthy. On Friday, Bjørkli went to the store. In the middle of the shopping trip, she broke down. The body did not want more. – I had waited a long time for that trip, but I could not take it anymore and started to cry. It’s still difficult for me. She has again sought help, but believes she is rejected by the public because she does not look “sick enough”. The low-threshold offers also do not have capacity. – It becomes difficult to get help from low-threshold offers when there is a waiting time of up to three months. There are very, very many children and young people who need help during the day, says Bjørkli. Record number of requests for help Last year, a record was set in the number of referrals to child and adolescent psychiatry (BUP). The increase from 2020 to 2021 was 6,000 children and young people. In two years, the number of referrals has increased by 28 percent, according to figures from the Norwegian Patient Register. Low-threshold services and voluntary organizations have also experienced record growth. Maria Josephine Bjørkli is home alone to practice living for herself without help before her studies. Photo: Rahand Bazaz / news Last week, VG wrote that the largest low-threshold offer in the country for eating disorders, ROS, is in danger of being closed down. – It’s critical. If we do not receive increased appropriations from the revised budget, we will probably have to send out redundancy notices before the summer, says Secretary General Irene Kingswick to the newspaper. The specialist health service is also red. – The development is not going in the right direction. Since January this year alone, waiting times have increased by 54 days, claims parliamentary representative Erlend Svardal Bøe (H), who asks the government to clean up. Labor: – Not good enough today The Labor Party’s health policy spokesperson, Cecilie Myrseth, says that it makes an impression to hear Maria’s story. She acknowledges that today there are too long waiting times and too many who need help. – We are working on this, and it is not good enough today, Myrseth says. – Do you have to look sick to get help? – No, that’s the whole thing. Having a mental illness must be equated with a somatic disorder. Labor Party health policy spokeswoman Cecilie Myrseth. She acknowledges the challenges and is sorry for what Maria says. Photo: Marius Fiskum The government now announces that they are working to strengthen the mental health services in the specialist health service with an escalation plan. It will be presented in 2023. It is too late, says Maria Josephine Bjørkli. – In many ways I can not have an everyday life. It would have been nice to have a psychologist. Practicing living alone Now she is without help from professionals. – There are many who feel worse than me, but not being able to do such necessary things as going to the store or finding their own dinner, hurts. You feel small and helpless, says Bjørkli. Østfold Hospital does not want to comment on Bjørkeli’s case. But they say that a specialist at the hospital assesses information from the GP against professional guidelines and the rights that the patient has. If a patient is rejected, it does not mean that the patient does not need health care, but that the patient must receive help at a lower level of care, writes clinic manager Andreas Joner in an e-mail to news. He also emphasizes that one has the right to complain. Now Bjørkli is home alone, to practice living on his own, before studies await in the autumn. It does not go quite according to plan so far. – I get scared of what it will look like when I have to fend for myself eventually. There will be a lot of thinking and grinding alone, says Bjørkli. Hi! Do you have any tips on what my next case might be about? Send me an email! I have written about this before, among other things:
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Maria Bjørkli does not receive mental health care from Østfold Hospital – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
