A MOTHER who has made several suicide attempts because of mental health problems is desperate for help but says she can't get the specialist care she needs locally on the NHS.

Nicola Dean, of Padgewell Hill, Droitwich, has BPD - Borderline Personality Disorder - which has led her to make five attempts on her own life, two involving near-fatal drug overdoses.

In the last, in February 2006, Miss Dean, aged 26, was admitted to hospital after she swallowed a cocktail of vodka, sleeping tablets, anti-depressants and pain killers during a bout of severe depression.

It was while in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital that she was diagnosed with BPD and told by a psychiatrist that she needed Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) to tackle the issues at the root of her self-destructive behaviour.

But mother-of-three Miss Dean says the treatment is only available in Worcester, not the rest of the county. She said: "There's a postcode lottery with the care. I'm not someone who needs locking up in a secure mental home. Not every mental disorder is about violence or psychotic behaviour. There's people like me who have a young family who want to live as normal a life as possible but the support is not out there for them. It's like breaking your leg but being told you can't have it in plaster.

"Having this treatment would be like having a massive weight taken off my shoulders."

Because of her condition, Miss Dean suffers from strong mood swings, low self-esteem and impulses to self-harm.

She has met with nurses on four separate occasions at Covercroft Mental Health Day Centre in Colman Road, Droitwich, but says they are not trained to deal with her condition.

A spokesperson for Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust said work was underway to train nurses in Worcestershire to give DBT but confirmed the treatment was not yet available at Covercroft.

He added: "We cannot comment on this particular case, but DBT is aimed at changing behaviour patterns, such as suicidal tendencies, fairly common to those with Borderline Personality Disorder.

"The therapy is offered for people essentially living within the Worcester city area, however, occasional referrals have and do come from other parts of the county."

The spokesman said funding had been received to offer training to all county community mental health teams to enable them to deliver DBT.