Topic Tuesday // Your mental health and the recent bushfires // Tues 28 Jan, 7pm AEST

[Former-Member]

@Joy139 And thank-you for your service and self-sacrifice that you have made in your work. I hope that in your process of counselling and healing you will acknowledge your strengths and in time to come your pain will be a gift to others.

[Former-Member]

@Joy139 its so interesting how much early intervention can help but its equally wonderful that you have been able to enter into a recovery journey and really work through some hard things. What kind of strengths do you draw on from yourself to do that?

[Joy139]

Thank you @Former-Member I'm glad I joined too. Funnily, I had to shut down to such an extent as to stop myself heading off to the local CFA to do what I could to help out. My first instinct is to help and I had to be kind to myself and talk myself through the guilt of doing absolutely nothing to help. That was hard to explain to people but I am so pleased I saw what I personally needed to do.

[Former-Member]

@greenspace @CheerBear @Adge @Shaz51 - you have all shared some really insightful things here. What do you think are the kind of strengths can you draw on to help manage the feeings we all been sharing?

[Former-Member]

@Joy139 I am so glad you realized that too and gave yourself permission. It can be really liberating to be responsive to your own needs and feel okay with that. Initially it may feel uncomfortable but sitting with this discomfort is part of looking after yourself.

[CheerBear]

I don't think I'd fully realised until tonight, that those same feelings of watching people trapped, suffering, not being able to escape etc these fires could all trigger things for those of us who have had traumatic experiences involving the same feelings in completely different situations and times (I don't know how I missed that for myself over the last weeks/months). I guess awareness as you mentioned @Former-Member is something that could be really helpful. Until you're aware of what might be going on it's pretty hard to move through it maybe. Talking about it and finding people who understand (or who try to understand) is another thing that could be helpful too.

[Joy139]

Thank you @Former-Member.For me, this (ptsd) has only recently emerged after many years out of the job.
I still work in a helping role and look at the awareness as a gift and to build on my existing resilience and strength.
I hope my contribution is relevant as I know so many people are suffering first hand from recent fires and I'm no. My heart is with them all.

[Former-Member]

@Former-Member @CheerBear @Joy139 @Former-Member @greenspace @Adge 

Hopefully we will be able to draw on our learnings individually and as a community.

During the recovery period in years to come, we will witness different learnings and there will also be good that comes from this situation as often does occur in disasters or tragedies. People and communities will draw on resources they didn’t know they had, people will be creative and innovative, new beginnings will occur and people will unite. These strengths and people’s resilience will be vital for the long-term recovery. And this will come from people’s capacity to sit with distress and wait.

[Shaz51]

Talking about it and finding people who understand (or who try to understand) is another thing that could be helpful too.-- very true @CheerBear  @Former-Member , @Former-Member , @Former-Member 

Hello @Joy139 

[greenspace]

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@Former-Member wrote:

@greenspace you paint an excellent picture but challenging one of how this situation impacts us all in so many different ways. It can hit us on a personal level but also we start thinking about the big picture and can feel disillusioned with politicians etc as you pointed out and the state of our future. How have you managed @greenspace because now you have got sick, it's a real sign hey that the stress is now manifesting with a physical illness. I hope you're getting the support you need.

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Thank you @Former-Member Messaging with my sister in Darwin has been a big help. I'm lucky we have a good relationship, and even though she's far away we message each other every day, and ring most weekends. She understands me, and understands the feeling of helplessness in the face of natural disasters, and she reminds me to keep looking after myself, having meals, having showers  (despite the drought!), and staying in touch with friends online, and in person if I can. 

Being physically ill makes it harder -- I missed a volunteer shift at the l9cal art gallery, and had to cancel seeing a movie with a friend. But the antiviral meds are helping with the shingles, and I hope to be over them in a week or so.  

I'm really glad to have some in-home support -- seeing people IRL, being taken to the doctor's and grocery shopping, playing a card game with a support worker -- it's all helped me keep going.