Assessors questions at my WCA not sure?!?!

Emma1958

Good evening everyone! 
I wonder if anyone has some advice please?
I had a WCA and my assessor was asking me some MH questions… is this normal to be asked?!?! 1. Medication and what help I am getting 2.Have I ever been sectioned under the mental health act 2. If I have suicidal and self harm thoughts 3. If I am with a mental health crisis team 3. If I have Support around me currently. 4. If I am aggressive I’m not sure if these questions are usually asked….I was in an emotional state because I had an emotional outburst crying and screaming because I couldn’t cope well with change the assessor was 15 minutes late. My daughter who was with me for support had to speak on my behalf throughout the whole assessment because I couldn’t manage the assessor seemed nice and did understand and apologised a few times for being late… daughter explained she supports me full time does everything for me I am on medication and waiting for talking therapy appt and my moods switch up and down I am not violently aggressive only verbal eg. Shouting swearing help anyone can help?!?!

poppy123456

All those questions are perfectly normal. They are trying to get the full picture of exactly how your conditions affect your everyday life. I'm glad you had your daughter for support during the assessment.

Once the report is written and returned a decision can take anything up to 12 weeks. Some have a decision much less than this.  If you have access to a journal once the decision is made the letter will be uploaded onto your journal.

Emma1958

Thankyou for your reply… I felt these questions are very personal for me but I understand now from your reply… when the assessor asked if I had ever been sectioned under the mental health act and my suicidal and self harm thoughts…I thought this was because of my emotional outburst where I was crying and screaming and saying I don’t want to be here I have a panic attack and anxiety bad throughout the whole assessment I  couldn’t control my emotions I got really scared because I thought they contact your doctors about this and I would be sectioned?!?! Will they contact my doctors about this. 

poppy123456

Sometimes the questions can seem a little to personal and feel like they want too much information. You won't be sectioned so please don't worry about that.

Sometimes as part of safe guarding they may contact your GP if they have any concerns but again please try not to worry because nothing bad will happen.

Emma1958

That sounds okay then and put my worries to rest…glad it’s over with now and I will just wait now… thankyou very much for your help. 

Emma1958

Thankyou for your reply… I have full support from my daughter and family so I am not alone… I am on medication from my GP and waiting for the help from talking therapies appt which can take long as the nhs has a waiting list in the meantime I am thinking about having private counselling for my mental health… yes I had an emotional outburst because the stress of everything had got on top of me and I was upset panic with the assessor being late out of the scheduled time of my appt… the assessor asked my daughter what support I had around me and she explained she gives me full time support and I have other support around me from my GP assessor was fine with this… no mention from assessor there was concerns or a referral for a welfare assessment because I have full support in place…regarding Suicial and harm thoughts I have never acted on these and when I have these I take myself to bed to sleep to get the thoughts out my head or I’ll speak with my daughter for support assessor was aware of this my daughter told assessor… assessor just said at the end if he can write all this down for the report for dwp and that he will send the report off to dwp and I should expect to hear assessment outcome within 4 weeks… nothing else was said?!?! I know my GP ask these personal questions but did not know the assessor can ask the same and I thought there was more to it when asked which is why I wanted help on here as I over think?!?! 

Albus_Scope

Hi @Emma1958, I'm glad you have a good support network in place and sorry if the assessors questions made you feel uneasy.  They're very standard questions, so I'd try not to worry too much, I'm very good at overthinking things myself, so you're definitely not alone there! 

Will you let us know how you get on with your outcome please? And if you need any help with anything, just post and we'll all do our best.  

Emma1958

Thankyou all for your replys and reassuring me… I am glad these questions are normal and that I have nothing to worry about from the person questions asked.. I can put my worries to rest and try to relax now… will update my outcome from WCA when I hear from them… thank you all.