Lovely yayborhood, I hope your June is going well so far. In case you need it, a little reminder of last week’s quote of the yay – if you aren’t where you thought you’d be as we approach the middle of the year (which as always, has crept up outrageously quickly), it is impossible to fall behind in your own life as your pathway is on its own timetable. From my conversations over the past few weeks, a lot of us are still feeling a bit of an emotional hangover from the past few years but are quite hard on ourselves about letting it show now that there’s a bit more normality in life. If that’s you, stop that right now – you’ve been through a lot and it takes time to restore your sense of balance…

Speaking of balance, today’s episode is a bit of a hybrid between #yaysofourlives and a regular interview - it started as one to spread awareness of an important yayborhood movement but then morphed into the other because our guest’s pathyay is interesting in itself. It’s a little heavier than our normal episodes so just a little content warning – we do discuss domestic violence and other content that may be triggering or disturbing so please take care and there’s a list of resources below.

It's structured a little differently because there was so much to cover and I thought I’d play around a bit to make sure we highlighted the most important stuff. As you know, we are all about lightness and finding joy but also feel it’s important to acknowledge the facets of life that might obstruct your ability to do so, so that nobody feels alone or so that a resource might reach one person who needs it who might not otherwise have had that information.

To that end, I am honoured to introduce you to our guest for today – the National Director of White Ribbon Australia, Allan Ball. You know I love to follow people’s pathyays, and Alan has certainly had an interesting one. We talk all things White Ribbon, as well as his journey from early beginnings as a school counsellor to working across rural communities, the NDIS, LGBTQIA+ organisations and youths struggling with drug abuse. So, there’s a little bit of lots of things, but a lot of very important things too.

MORE INFO ON THE WHITE RIBBON TAX APPEAL HERE

Some resources should you need them:

• If you are in immediate danger - please call 000 for Police and Ambulance help.
• 1800RESPECT - 1800 737 732 - This is a 24-hour national sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.
• Lifeline - 13 11 14 - Anyone across Australia experiencing a personal crisis or thinking about suicide can call 13 11 14, or text 0477 13 11 14 at night (6pm-midnight AEDT). Someone will help put you in contact with a crisis service in your state or territory.
• Kids Help Line - 1800 551 800 - Free, private and confidential, telephone and online counselling service specifically for young people aged between 5 and 25 in Australia.
• Men's Referral Service - 1300 766 491 - This service from No to Violence offers assistance, information and counselling to help men who use family violence.

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