A word from Kym Mcminn

Consistency is the intervention.

And I didn’t learn that from a text book.

I learned it from sitting in hospital corridors.

From fighting for beds that didn’t exist.

From watching services step in - and then quietly step away when things got messy.

I learned it as a Mum.

And I still see it every day working in this space.

We talk about relapse like it only belongs to addiction.

It doesn’t.

Relapse is psychosis returning.

Relapse is depression swallowing someone whole again.

Relapse is suicidality creeping back in.

Relapse is disengagement after a fragile period of hope.

And too often, relapse is often when people are labelled “too complex”. And sometimes when services disengage.

But here’s the flip side 👇

Services also disengage when things stabilise.

When crisis settles.

When hospital admissions stop.

When things look “better” on paper.

Support tapers.

Contact reduces.

Intensity drops.

And yet - that is often when people support the most.

Stability is fragile.

Recovery is vulnerable.

Momentum needs protection.

If support only exists in crisis, it isn’t relational - it’s reactive.

If support disappears when someone improves, it teaches them progress is temporary.

I’ve lived what it feels like to watch someone I love unravel.

And I’ve lived what it feels like to watch someone I love try to hold stability with less support than they need.

Recovery is not linear.

It is relapse and repair.

It is crisis and calm.

It is forward steps and hard weeks in the same month.

When we look in the revision mirror, progress might not look impressive on a spreadsheet.

It might look like:

– fewer crises

– reduced danger

– longer stable periods

– more engagement

– trust that didn’t exist before

Trust only forms when someone stays after the wobble.

And stays after the calm.

Identity comes before diagnosis.

The person comes before the behaviour.

And consistency must come before outcomes.

We cannot fund crisis-only systems.

And we cannot withdraw the moment things look stable.

Real reform isn’t louder.

It’s longer.

People aren’t too complex.

They’re navigating systems that don’t know when to stay.

Sometimes the most radical thing we can do in this sector is refuse to leave.

In relapse.

And in recovery.