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lived experience

blue-birdCasual Contributor28 July 2014, 6:20 pm AEST

lived experience

Hi everyone,

I thought I should break the ice and be the first to post in this topic.

It can be tough disclosing lived experience of mental illness, even on a forum designed specifically for it! I have experienced depression and anxiety for around 10 years, and am happy to be a part of this trial phase.

Nice to meet you all 🙂

36 replies

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In response to: lived experience

kristinSenior Contributor13 Aug 2014, 10:02 pm AEST

Re: lived experience

You are most welcome, we all need encouragement to be kind to ourselves. It's good you are teaching your daughter this. I think it is one of the gifts we gain from MI, a bit of wisdom from our pain.

I suspect that never having been helped to develop self-compassion is a significant contribution to MI. When I was little I was taught to put myself last to everyone else's needs. It is only since I've learned to both take responsibility for what I am responsible for and be much kinder to myself that my wellness feels anything more than fleeting. (Not that it will probably ever be the rock of Gibraltar, but it is solid nevertheless.)

Best regards,

Kristin

In response to: lived experience

RelNew Contributor29 Aug 2014, 9:36 pm AEST

Re: lived experience

Hi everyone. A sufferer of Bipolar Type 2, my experience with mental illness in the work place has been a nightmare. My former employer is a very well known and very large contact mining company in Australia. I can vouch that big isn't necessarily better. Over a course of 18 months I was told by our site HR Manager to "get your shit together" and "under no circumstances can you drop your bundle at work. You do that shit at home". Then, in a distraught state, I was taken to a disused bath house and told to stay there until I had pulled myself together. My direct manager would roll his eyes, huff and puff and often have a snide remark to say. A colleague told me I was selfish after I took a month off to seek help in a mental health facility. I still struggle every day with how I was treated, even though I have now been off work for five months after basically being forced to take a redundancy. I guess it was easier to make me go away then address the ignorant attitude of some of their management and workforce. There is still a long way to go in removing the stigma toward mental health sufferers in the workplace 😢
I would truly like to name and shame the companies who treat their employees so dreadfully so they pick up their game.

In response to: Re: lived experience

Alessandra1992Senior Contributor31 Aug 2014, 9:27 pm AEST

Re: lived experience

Hi Rel,
It does suck that your workplace was unable to support you. Your experience sounds like the HR manager should be getting some training around what promotes good mental health in workplaces and how to support people back to work who are returning...snide comments do not a healthy work force naked...

In response to: lived experience

NikNikSenior Contributor18 Nov 2014, 3:11 pm AEDT

Re: lived experience

This comment has been moved by a moderator to another part of the forum where it might be more easily found by the community.

In response to: Re: lived experience

kenny66Senior Contributor18 Nov 2014, 6:30 pm AEDT

Re: lived experience

Hi Rel

I am not as polite as Sandy. The people who did this to you, do it because they know they can get away with it. In this country there are very little sanctions against this sort of behaviour that actually work.

All of the nice statements about educating this people is meaningless because it is all still happening on a regular basis. I was booted out of my job because I had schizophrenia. My boss made no bones about it. He just didn't want a crazy working for the company.

In response to: lived experience

Alessandra1992Senior Contributor18 Nov 2014, 11:11 pm AEDT

Re: lived experience

Hi Rel, @kenny66 has nailed a major issue in our Lived Experience Workforce... Discrimination in the workforce us not easily addressed, I am wondering if it would make a suitable topic for a Tuesday forum? What are the legal obligations for employers in supporting people in the workforce? Where can you go for advice or advocacy?
@starfishblue, are you in a lived experience role or undeclared? Do you have anyone at work or outside work that you can seek support from? Could you exolirw reducing your workload so you can regain your equilibrium?
Dies work provide any EAP, Employee Assistance Program in your workplace?
Is it possible you could contact an advocacy y service where you are? In Melbourne we have VMIAC www.VMIAC.org.au

Please keep in touch and let us know how we can support you? Some of us might gave great strategies for managing periods of decline at work, sometimes I think we are like canaries in the mines.. When we start getting stressed it may sometimes be due to toxic work environments..too many tasks and not enough hours in the day, deadlines that are not reasonable, conflicting agendas within an organisation.. Can be pretty tough especially in competitive environments like sales or marketing.take care...

In response to: lived experience

LoopySenior Contributor23 Nov 2014, 5:33 pm AEDT

Re: lived experience

blue-bird, I say welcome, you will always have a shoulder to lean and cry on, an ear to whisper in, a hug when needed, and a wise word in your ear. What you hear may not be that which you wanted but there is a wealth of information in this forum. It is soley your choice to filter the helpful stuff out and use as you wish. I have been an MI sufferer since 1989 and still cannot get my head around PTSD. I hope your MI does not take over ypur life as it has mine.

welcome.

loopy

In response to: Re: lived experience

LoopySenior Contributor23 Nov 2014, 5:38 pm AEDT

Re: lived experience

Geez Imwas late on that one.

loopy

In response to: lived experience

TrickyCasual Contributor17 Aug 2016, 8:40 pm AEST

Re: lived experience

Hi. I've had depression since my late teens but have recently been diagnosed with bi polar 2. I've always managed to cope fairly well if I stay away from alcohol and don't try to self-medicate. I have a job that requires a high level of security and they have always known about my depression however when I was diagnosed with bi polar they called it a major change & revoked my clearance. I am trying to stay positive and I have good support from friends but unfortunately my wife doesn't understand mental illness. Whenever I say I am stressed and need time out (I often feel on edge & need to separate myself for a whole) she says that she is stressed to & why don't I consider her feelings. This often makes me feel guilty and I jump back in & neglect to take time out. I also have a 6yo daughter that I love to death but she is a little pocket rocket & I often have trouble engaging if I'm feeling down. <br>I fit a lot into this, it was kind of a stream of conscious but hopefully I've got enough information across.

In response to: Re: lived experience

Unknown userMember17 Aug 2016, 8:52 pm AEST

Re: lived experience

Hi @Tricky

Welcoem to the forums.

I'm so sorry to hear about the change your work place forced on you.. sounds very discriminatory 😞

I'm a single mum with two young kids and my lil boy is a pocket rocket too, i always say he's the energizer bunny from that old advert where the batteries never run out 😄 And yes, its hard somedays to keep up the energy needed for them, but you are trying to do your best from the sounds of it, and luckily your daugther has two parents 🙂

perhaps it might be good to have your wife go with you to some appointments in the future so that you can discuss what you need to do to keep you well? including strategies like taking time out and then you could work on finding ways that work for you both? Not sure if that is a possibility in your situation though!

take care,

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