Table 2 Summary of themes and sub-themes
Key themes | Sub-themes | Supporting quotes |
|---|---|---|
Appropriate and timely support | Tailored services | ‘I was still self-harming so like at the beginning of the session she’d be like “So how was your week?” and I would be like tell her how many times I’d self-harmed and it was just felt really tailored to exactly what I needed at that time.’ P22: White British Female, aged 18–25 years |
Navigating complex systems | And if your mental health problems are complex or long term it’s basically “Well we don’t deal with that” so you’re left floating in this world P11: White British Female, aged 56–65 years | |
Fostering a sense of community | Shared experiences | “So you go to the meetings, as many as you can, and you sit and listen and you identify with people and you look for similarities, not for differences.” P15: White British Female, aged 56–65 years |
Online communities | “Since I’ve had this computer I’ve not self-harmed because I’ve had people to talk to and people just to hear me” P1: White and Black Caribbean Male, aged 46–55 years | |
Awareness of support | Knowledge of service availability | ‘I think services being well advertised would have made a big difference because I really honestly didn’t know about any services apart from just going to the GP.’ P21: White British Female, aged 26–35 years |
Lack of clarity | ‘you’re kind of worried then waiting for what you’re getting, you don’t know what it is, so you don’t know what to expect, like, I quite like knowing what I’m doing and what I’m expected to do and things.’ P3: White British Female, aged 26–35 years | |
Employment and education | Creating supportive environments | “…it’s my secret, I can hide that from you, I can mask, let you know that everything’s OK and keep on doing my job, but behind it you don’t know what’s there, but had you asked the question I might have told you” P10: White British Male, aged 56–65 years |
Empowerment and self esteem | ‘I do quite a lot of art that I put on my Etsy shop in my spare time as well but it’s been quite nice getting my work because of my mental health’ P8: White British Female, aged 18–25 years |