Hi guys.
A few months back i was depressed and put a rope around my neck to see what it would feel like to hang yourself. I stopped when it got uncomfortable and that was that. I told the ex the next day and asked her to stay away from me.
I continued to have unsupervised contact with my kid which included overnight.
Around 2 months after this the ex is trying to use this as an excuse to stop me seeing my kid completely claiming im mentally unstable.
I did take an overdose a couple of years ago where i ended up in hospital (due to her abuse).
The ex and her abuse was the sole cause of my depression. I now have a non mol application going through against her and am currently going through therapy as a mitigation factor.
Just wondering if her claim would hold any weight with the court to prevent my having contact? My solicitor says i cant be punished due to my mental health.
Thanks
Hi
Your solicitor is correct, however they will consider any safeguarding issues that may arise as a result of poor mental health. Eg can you look after child and meet their needs and can you adequately judge risk etc. Is there a risk of further suicide attempts that could impact child (if they were there) etc...
Could you consider counselling to help with this, which would then be something you could present to say you are dealing with things with the help of proffesionals (if you already are then great)...
All the best.
Hello, thanks for coming here and sharing your story. As I am sure you know, if you are concerned for your wellbeing the Samaritans are on 116123 and CALM - https://www.thecalmzone.net/ on 0800 585858 are available at anytime for you to talk to. We also have counsellors available, this isn't an emergency (or free) service, but they are very experienced - https://www.dad.info/counselling-with-fegans/
I'll ask the moderators to come on to give you a clear answer to your specific question, but please do keep on keeping on and feel free to use the forum for support.
All best and thanks for posting, Nell (Editor)
hi,
hope your doing ok. if your going through the courts now, their social workers will do background checks, and if reports of your past mental health issues come up, they will assess any risks to the child as daddyup mentioned. they might recommend a course of action for you to take, such as therapy/counselling. I have spoken to other dads in past who were suicidal in the past. they got better and recovered, and social worker did not use that against them to prevent child contact. Hope it works out well for you.
Thanks for the words of support. Im fine now, she was my trigger and the non mol gets her out of my life.
I am going through councilling anyway, half way through my sessions atm.
Does anybody know how they assess any risk? Like how do they determine it? Its not as though i was depressed with life in general, both times it was reactions to her and her abuse. When it happened the first time and i ended up in hospital i had a psyc evaluation and he said mentally im fine it was just a reaction to recent events.
Thanks
I wouldnt admit to putting a rope around your neck. just say you said it was a figure of speech as recent events got on top of you.
Also getting a non mol against ex is likely to make child contact arrangements more difficult and could work against you.
Its important you are child focused and unfortunately courts barely take any notice what your ex says or does against you.
If a dad was doing what ex partners do then we get book thrown at us.
I am not sure what your ex has done to you , but try and do things legal way or through a 3rd party and just comunicate via text/whatsapp
