Time away from forums

Hi @creative_writer

I can understand the putting things off and keeping things in. Sometimes I bottle things up inside. It an create such turmoil inside of us.

I hope you are able to have a good day today hon 💗💗

Afternoon @creative_writer

Just coming past to leave some 💕💕 and hugs

Hey @creative_writer stopping in to see how you've been travelling over the last week! Hope placement has been treating you well, and your illness has cleared up 🤞💜

@creative_writer yeah pretty good, got the decluttering process started (was too enthusiastic before when I thought I could get it all finished, lol) and spent some time w my partners, so that was super nice.

Ach, migraine no fun at all. Hope it's not too gnarly and dissipates soon.

Yeah an informal support network is always a boon. Have you spent some time with this resistance, figured out what it's all about?

And I wouldn't worry about that too much, you will 1000% find friends and a support network once you're working in the field. I have some mates who were at SANE with me a while back who I am still on really good terms with! Which is awesome for those moments when you need to have a big vent to someone who also works in a similar area. A bonus of working in mental health is that for the most part, the people we work alongside are super compassionate and caring individuals, easy to connect with!

@creative_writer mm for sure, would make sense to experience that avoidance - I imagine it'll get easier the longer you're in the field though.

I think the degree to which you might need to mask may depend entirely on the organisation you work for. Like SANE have been so open and welcoming to staff with lived experience, but I imagine there are still orgs out there running on archaic value systems and not building trauma-informed care into their staff policies. For example, if I became suddenly very dysregulated I would not feel at all hesitant to let my team know and then take off for the day. There's never been judgement or invalidation in those moments either. So perhaps it's just about finding the right job environment, where psychosocial safety for staff is highly prioritised. These could be good questions for you to ask in future interviews!

Also no offence to your mum but... no. Just no. That kind of thing is what continues to promote the idea that mental health workers aren't also people, who have flaws and struggles and burdens and mistakes just like anyone else. I think you can safely ignore that. And then you can also remind yourself that having lived-experience of mental health struggles (whilst obviously not ideal or desirable) does help us to be more empathic and attuned to our client's needs and experiences, and thus we are better able to walk beside our clients through their journey.

Good morning @Jynx @creative_writer

Cold and wet here. A good day to stay inside.

I hope both of you have a good day.