DAMN CENTRELINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today started out pretty well. (A) worked super hard at making our session a safe space and I am back to having a glimmer of hope that this therapeutic relationship can at least be "good enough."
And then I got the call from Centrelink. Apparently my one-off marking gig at the uni has raised a red flag. I know the rule is that you need to report income when you earn it, not when you get paid it, but this was kind-of different because it wasn't like I worked set hours on set days. Indeed, I haven't even finished the job yet, as one student got an extension and thus I have one assignment left to mark. So all in all, I hadn't yet told CL about this one-off job.
The man used an unnecessarily angry voice. This little turtle does not do angry voices well at all. As this little turtle started to go into meltdown, the man hung up, leaving this little turtle in a terrible muddle. 
The man had said I wouldn't now be able to deal with the issue via the CL website, but I went straight onto it and it did allow me to declare the income for the past fortnight. Then I went onto the uni website and put in a timesheet to get paid.
After I did all of that, I called the office of my local member because I know they have been helping people caught up in the whole robodebt saga. The woman was SUPER nice and listened to me through my floods of tears and chaos. She is going to email CL and flag the fact that this caused so much distress. I feel a bit better knowing I have now connected with the local member, and that I have seen that they genuinely will help out with this stuff. I am really scared that the issue isn't going to go away. I think I can see the problem; even though I only did this one-off gig at the uni, the contract they gave me actually runs from the beginning of February, so I'm guessing that somehow CL have got the idea that I've been working there since then and not declaring income.
I feel super super super SUPER icky. I'm rocking and my heart is racing etc. I am guessing you might know just how I feel @CheerBear. It frightens me how very quickly I can descend into chaos. I am super grateful that the person at the local member's office was so nice and patient on the phone.
Thank you for listening. I cannot begin to tell you how much I do NOT need a battle with CL right now. I know lots of people around here will understand how horrible such battles can be.
The parmesan's a lost cause though.
