If they close my day centre where will I go?

Please tell me fast 'cos I don't know

If as they say they shut the centre

please tell me what other door will I have to enter?

They say I can go to another place

But will I know another face?

Will I feel lost and so alone?

I'll just decide to go back home

I'm told to meet with others just like me

And have a chat over cups of tea

Go to a cafe and meet a new friend

That might send me right round the bend

I worry so in strange places

Looking around at alien faces

If I buy just one cup of tea

The owner soon would come to me

He'd say 'Don't just sit there at this table

Pay for food and drinks if you are able'

If I said I did not want his food

Then he might get in a bad mood

I might blush and feel much shame

And maybe they would be to blame

Then I'd quickly go back home to bed

And pull the duvet right up over my head

This poem was written in response to the anxieties felt by service users over 

Government plans that mean the closing or the drastic alteration of how

informal day services are run. It reflects the feelings of many of the Mental Health

and Learning Disability service users in this area . Maidstone Kent