I can’t believe I’m coming off a 2-year probation period after what feels like forever in therapy, hate, nightmares, anger, and disappointment.

Two years ago, on February the 15th 2016, I was charged with perverting the course of justice and Assault.

I should never have been arrested because I have a mental health issue that was and still is undiagnosed.

I also had solicitors who were so unsupportive that they allowed this to happen and made me plead guilty to a charge I have no recollection of and one that I was completely innocent of.

I was made to pay the price for having a mental health problem, just because someone who I thought was my friend made a false complaint against me, it was fake, so that charge got dropped!

There’s more, her friend, who I also thought was a friend of mine, has a husband who is a policeman and she again turned against me. Yes, how convenient!

Her exact words were “Nothing is ever good with you”. I should have these words tattooed to my wrist haha!

I’m not sure why the corrupt CPS charged me with perverting the course of justice when at the time of the incident there was no case to answer to!

The whole thing was a joke.

Another person only received a four-month suspended sentence because they said someone made them do it. Yet my mental illness makes me forget things easily.

I was also accused of punching a police lady, yet there were three of them attacking me, and I have a bulging disc in my back because of them!

What I have learned from probation

The probation system is exceptionally disjointed and a complete waste of time. After my first year, I was put on telephone calls once every six weeks. When this happened, I never heard from probation until six months later when a lady sent me a letter saying that I had missed a telephone call with her and that I was being put back on supervised visits.

After my 12 sessions of rehabilitation had finished, I wasn’t told that I had to be under supervision for the whole two years! Also, I wasn’t aware that sessions with an offender manager were compulsory and didn’t count towards the rehabilitation sessions.

My offender manager changed twice, and the 2nd lady I had referred me to careers. The careers lady suggested I apply for a master’s degree, which I spent, time doing. I was accepted onto the masters. However, I wasn’t told that there was no funding available for people who have degrees and that I would have to apply for a loan to take up the offer until I questioned the careers advisor.

I also asked the last lady who was making six weekly telephone calls to me if there were any courses she could recommend that were free for me to brush up on my skills. I also asked her if she could help me get a computer chair because of my back pain, and she told me that there were no free courses for someone with my level of education and that didn’t know and couldn’t even suggest where I could get one cheaper.

I’ve learned how disjointed and corrupt government services are and money talks. People without money are told what to do and don’t have a say unless they have money to buy themselves out of the situation.

Have you or someone you know ever gone through probation? Let us know your experiences of probation in the comment section or on our social media channels.

Please note names have been changed to protect identities.

2018 is the year I finally come off probation, which feels like an eternity for a mental health sufferer like myself who has never experienced this joke of an experience before.

In 2016 I ended up pleading guilty to something I never remembered doing due to a mental health breakdown, and I also ended up pleading guilty to something I never did to get this whole stupid thing out of the way.

I was given a 15 month suspended prison sentence for perverting the course of justice and 15 rehab activity days.

In this time, I pushed between several people who have not helped me one bit into getting treatment or securing employment.

I had several sessions with a lady, and another patronising lady was supposed to be my probation officer for seven months, who I saw twice.

The lady who was part of a women’s group saw me every fortnight for eight sessions used to take me for a hot chocolate in a nearby cafe and would talk to me about how

I’m spending my time, and she was like having a friend.

After those sessions finished, I was told that I now had a new probation officer and that I would have to find my way to the sessions 20 minutes away from my home.

The new probation officer saw me for a couple of sessions and set a meeting up for me with a career advisor.

The Careers advisor advised me to apply for a master’s degree and told me to go to the college where she would help me fill in my form.

However, when I arrived at the college, my father spent 2 hours in the car waiting, and I had to do all the work, and she never helped at all.

What was worse is the fact that the careers advisor then told me that the loan wasn’t interest-free and that I would have to pay it back.

After my sessions with both the Careers advisor and the new probation officer ended. I was told that I would be put on telephone probation.

The months passed by and I never heard any more until receiving a letter last August, telling me that I haven’t responded to a message that never reached me and that I was now instructed to make my way 10 miles up the road to report to someone else.

My father then queried this, and the person he spoke to became very helpful and put me back on phone probation and talked to me over the phone.

I’ve had a couple of calls every six weeks with a lady but to be honest, it’s a complete waste of time and money, and she even agreed and admitted that there wasn’t anything she could help me with.

I’m also disappointed with the solicitors and courts who never explain how probation works.

When you are sentenced to community orders, I was unaware that you would also have a probation officer checking up on you?

I just assumed after 15 sessions, and the whole thing would be over with.

I have one last call with a probation officer next week, and then I’m finally free from this probation saga and of the suspended sentence list.

Not that I plan or had ever intended causing and getting into trouble with the police, courts, and probation.

Never in all my life did I ever think I would end up with a hefty criminal record overshadowing my already dark life.

I would also like to go to places like America, Australia, and Canada one day and I hope that my mental health hasn’t ruined this for me because of a stupid criminal record which I never should have been given, or at least it should be wiped entirely because of my health.

Yes, many of you are saying that mental health shouldn’t excuse a criminal record if that is so; shouldn’t mental health records be entirely wiped after so many years?

I was given a record for being sick and making friends with the wrong people, some of whom are related to police officers, so I believe I was unfairly set up.