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Carer and consumer

AnnabelleSenior Contributor31 July 2014, 9:59 pm AEST

Carer and consumer

This forum is for carers, but what if you are a carer and you have a mental illness as well. Which one takes priority? I have bipolar disorder but I am also a carer.

My eldest daughter has bipolar disorder and ADHD. My second daughter has no problems (although she is gay, which has caused her problems in the past). My third child, a son, has Down syndrome, autism, sleep apnoea, hearing loss and depression and my youngest has ADHD and severe anxiety. Despite this, you wouldn't pick us in a crowd and my family functions very well.

Even though I am posting this in the Carers forum, I am drawn more to post in the Lived Experience Forum. Does anyone else relate to this?

17 replies

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In response to: Carer and consumer

HobbitSenior Contributor11 Sept 2014, 8:29 pm AEST

Re: Carer and consumer

Hey there!

Yep the guitar is great! I'm playing in a little jazz band (quartet) so I had to re-learn things like major 9th chords and minor flat 5 chords and half diminished flat 9 chords, so being the songwriter I am (or try to be) I wrote a song using as many as these type of chords as possible. It sounds OK, but it's REALLY fun to play!!

Hobbit.

In response to: Carer and consumer

JTSenior Contributor15 Sept 2014, 6:32 pm AEST

Re: Carer and consumer

I learned guitar as a child but chords eluded me. My daughter settled on guitar after first learning piano and flute then I have to confess that I started lessons again because her third teacher was bloody cute. Officially I was holding her place when she went to see her dad for a couple of months 🙂 He was an awesome teacher though and taught me to play the blues.

In response to: Carer and consumer

Alessandra1992Senior Contributor15 Sept 2014, 10:22 pm AEST

Re: Carer and consumer

Cute teachers..love it! Now define cuteness jt!
I think often it is about how warm the person teaching is, how confidence inspiring they are in terms of encouragement and genuine in their love of sharing their expertise.

That draws me to my kids teachers, and equally repels me when teachers clearly aren't motivated or interested...

Luckily, not too many of those around

In response to: Re: Carer and consumer

PeppiPattySenior Contributor17 Sept 2014, 7:43 pm AEST

Re: Carer and consumer

I play classical guitar....many years ago but my son just gave me a fenders guitar so.....at moment an ornament in the lounge room but almost ready to practice. I was trying to learn blues about five years ago....in about 10 years....Ille get the hang of maybe two lines....slow
No cute teachers for me but.... I dream em !

In response to: Re: Carer and consumer

JTSenior Contributor17 Sept 2014, 11:12 pm AEST

Re: Carer and consumer

hhmmm let me see, visually appealing and very tall with a killer smile. Cute enough to make me stop the treadmill not only for that half hour lesson but also to practice enough to make him smile every week lol.

He was also nice to the core, a gifted musician a natural teacher and a devoted family man lol.

My daughter was about to give up the guitar when he started and he took her to another level with improvisation and taught her some blues riffs and all the old songs she loves. When he left the music school she opted to just get lessons through her school but he left her with a love for her music that a few years later led her to complete year 12 level music.

In response to: Carer and consumer

ValCasual Contributor22 Mar 2019, 5:07 pm AEDT

Re: Carer and consumer

My husband lives with bipolar and I live with severe, chronic, non-situational depression. We've been rejected by NDIS and our only carer supports are delivered through council - who will quit delivery of all services in December for fee-paying providers to fill the gaps for those on Aged Care and NDIS plans.... not for the thousands and thousands like us... The future feels like a train wreck about to happen - as both carer and consumer!

In response to: Re: Carer and consumer

Unknown userMember22 Mar 2019, 6:05 pm AEDT

Re: Carer and consumer

I stand to lose my carer support person @Val due to the similar changes - my husband too functional for NDIS.

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