I need help

Hi @KelvinG welcome to the forum. Sounds really tough for you right now. There's always someone around on here who gets it. I'm older, but the struggle is the same. I'm tagging a couple of people around your age who I find good to talk to @outlander @MDT

It's good that you tried to get help through counselling. It takes a lot of effort to reach out like that when you are feeling so down and it shows you haven't given up hope. You're so right about availability. Getting an appointment can be a real battle and then finding a good fit is important.

Do you have a good gp? A mental health friendly one? They are out there and it's worth persisting to find one. Once you get a good one they can link you to other helpful services. It can be really hard to tell people how you feel. A decent GP won't be phased, though. People on the forum are also very accepting; no judgement.

There's a program called Better Access which gives you access to Medicare supported psychology - 6 appointments initially, and 4 more if you need. You'd need a GP referral, but it can take the pressure off $ wise.

Take care. I hope there's some small wins for you today.

Welcome to the forums @KelvinG. I'm so sorry to hear how difficult things have been for you. It can be exhausting to manage everything alone and I'm so glad you found your way to the forums.

As @frog suggested, there are some great support options out there and your GP is a good place to start. If you'd like a bit more direction and support to find a service that's right for you, you can contact Beyond Blue too. Given how full on things have been for you, I also wanted to drop is Lifeline 13 11 14. They're open 24/7 and are a great support service if ever you need to connect with some help more urgently. T

ake good care of yourself @KelvinG. Hope to see you around the forums.

It’s been quite overwhelming just reading some of the messages on here, I didn’t really think anyone would get back to me let alone be as supportive as they were.

I don’t actually stay in Australia. I stay in Scotland but I liked what was going on here.

I actually managed to get a counselling appointment for Friday so that’s somewhere to start.

My GP situation isn’t great, the healthcare system in this country is quite backed up and the only solution is really to take medication. I guess I could probably use a little more self help aswell.

Yeah probably somewhere I can be entirely honest with myself, I still feel quite embarrassed about the way I feel, and I find it difficult to open up too people. Somewhere I can openly say, “today I wanted to disappear” and really there is no judgement and misunderstanding.

@outlander @MDT @Former-Member @frog

Really is much appreciated getting back to me.

Yeah we have somethings here, but it’s been a nightmare just trying to get something put in place. Like I applied for counselling at my university and the waiting list was long then I never ended up getting an appointment. Then through our health care system I self referred myself but didn’t end up getting a call back.

Yeah please do, anything that can help is much appreciated.

Ah, Scotland @KelvinG I lived there for 3 years and loved it, but my suggestions re services are not applicable. Glad to hear you have your Friday appointment.

The medication or not question is a huge debate. I have finally made peace with myself over that. Once when I was really frustrated I asked my former psychiatrist what the goal was and he said: to reduce suffering. It took me a long time to accept my diagnosis, and a long time on top of that to find medications that work. For Bipolar 1 it's a real balancing act. I think the accepted thinking on medication is that it can get you to the point where you can take better care of yourself. In isolation it has its limits, but with counselling and self help strategies it works for me. Nothing in this journey is linear though and my goal is to get better at surfing the waves. Hang in there.