When It Rains, It Pours...

I hope I don't come off like a whiny brat in this post; my intention is just to offer some constructive criticism, rather then to nag, so please forgive the tone.

I really appreciate the precious opportunities that we, the community, get to have our voices heard by the people in power. So often do I encounter some daft piece or policy or protocol and think to myself: "I really wish there was some sort of discussion about this so that we can point out the flaws to the people who actually implemented this, and get it fixed!"

But now, I'm starting to get those "be careful what you wish for" pains.

I just found out about this survey (https://www.instagram.com/saneaustralia/p/DA18RUrOMuR/) being run by SANE today (I haven't actually looked at it yet).

So, this is what's been on my callendar for the past couple weeks:

• A National Suicide Prevention Office consultation that closes on 25 October. (Thankfully, I've finished my submission for this, although I never got any acknowledgement that it was recieved, so I may have to chase this up 😫😥)
• A NSW Govt. Inquiry into Loneliness that closes on 1 November.
• A visit to the forums tomorrow (10 October) by fedral MPs, which I'm hoping to attend.
• A SANE survey into our Help-Seeking Experiances, which also closes on 25 October!

I really love all these opportunities to speak out, so I really don't want to sound ungrateful. But couldn't all the organizations that run these consultations coordinate so that their not dumping all these opportunities on the mentally ill/suicidal/ect. community all at once?

I realize that this is the official "Mental Health Month", and so this is the ideal time in the media cycle to get publicity about all the involvement opportunities that these institutions are extending to the mentally ill/suicidal/ect. community. But I think that someone ought to remember that most of us are burdened people, in some way or another; we aren't vivacious dynamos running on youthful energy who can easily bound from one inquiry to another in just a couple of weeks; especially when the material can be as emotionally taxing as some of these can.

Speaking for myself, I am flagging after just completing my submission to the National Suicide Prevention consultation last week. By the time I finish my submission for the NSW Loneliness Inquiry, I'll probably be completely burnt out.

I don't know. Maybe this is just my bad luck.

It does seem like there are numerous consultations that go on throughout the year; most of which aren't relevant to me. Maybe this is just one big coincidence for me, where a bunch of inquiries that are relevant to me just happened to line-up all at once. Although I must say, I think that Suicide Prevention and Loneliness are probably broad enough issues that they would encompass a significant overlapping proportion of the community.

In any event, I'd just like to throw it out there that maybe the organizations who run these consultations might want to think about coordinating their callendars in future, to avoid lumping big inquiries onto the community all at once?

@RachSANECEO, I don't know if, or how often SANE sits down for powwows with the other big players in the mental health realm, but maybe this might be something you guys might want to discuss together?