You may remember some time ago I told you all I had decided to keep Charlie at home and attempt to get him an EOTAS plan. For those of you who are new to following us, Charlie has had a very eventful journey to get where we are today.

Not only did we have to wait 12months for an initial appointment for a community paediatrician, but then an extra 2.5 years fir an official diagnosis.

School has so far been the biggest challenge, Charlie has attended 3 mainstream settings and has been permanently excluded from two. He has been to a pupil referral unit (PRU) given a place in an LA special school 30 something miles away, which I refused to send him to. And an independent specialist school that he has struggled to attend due to his high anxiety levels.

And anxiety is where we are at now. The extremes that is Charlie's reality is I can’t be more than 2 meters away from him. He is constantly by my side. The seperation anxiety is so high, coupled with anxiety and it is impossible to progress with Charlie at all. I would like him reviewed for medication.

So, I did a self referral for camhs (children and adolescent mental health services) so Charlie can receive clinical psychology support. It was refused!!! I went to the GP and they can not prescribe for medication in children under 18. The clinical psychologist from school also can’t prescribe, and neither can the community paediatrician. Only camhs. And they have refused us.

I have spent weeks researching private child psychiatrists and the prices they charge are ridiculous. Into the hundreds and we can't afford that?! Who can? Our health insurance doesn’t cover it. We have private health insurance which was a good move, but mental health or anything related to Charlie's autism is not covered (he is free in my policy). So we are back at square one. And I don't mind paying privately, i’m fortunate we're in a position where I can. But, there is no private psychiatrists available either.

I rang back the GP on Thursday last week and had a bit of a kick off to them. I feel like no one is doing anything and we can’t get anywhere and its just not fair. On any of us. Living on eggshells and trapped in the house, our quality of life is impacted by Charlie's anxiety. So the GP is going to review the countless referrals I've made for help and make a referral based on what she thinks Charlie needs. I feel as though it's a step forward.

In the meantime, school has agreed to a clinical psychology treatment plan where the clinical psychologist at school will see Charlie for around 4 weeks, twice a week for assessment and treatment. Once this has finished it will be reviewed and a report with recommendations will be written. I am looking forward to this!! The clinical psychologist working with Charlie believes he will not progress or access education until he is under medication and she fully supports that.

We will have to await the outcome!

Georgina x