Weekdays

Bec had a chat with Kent Millington who is the president of Kalamanda Cricket Club. The cricket club has experienced the loss of a fellow member to suicide and this had an effect on other members of the club including Richmond Wellbeing CEO, Adrian Munroe. As suicide is the biggest killer of men aged 18-40, Richmond Wellbeing felt sporting clubs would be the perfect way to reach men with support around mental health. The Bouncing Back program was created and developed with the support of Kalamunda Cricket Club and is now bringing tools to assess members mental health and wellbeing to clubs around Perth over the course of four sessions.

It is mental health awareness week and Bec spoke to Roya Yoosefi who is an Occupational Therapist and involved with multicultural mental health service for individuals and families. She immigrated to Australia from Iran in 2012. I came with my Permanent Residency, the reason I am saying that is because I come with excellent work experience and I thought “I will find a job,” but companies ask for a local experience. You may think, yes, sure! But I only had international experience, I thought it is more valuable than local but what I think didn’t matter, what recruitment needed was the matter. That was like a turning point in my life, I come with a hope but it sounds conditional hope to me, yes you are in Australia but no you can’t work until you get that local experience. That’s how I start to lose my self-confidence, start missing what I have left behind. Family and friends, sense of belonging.

Swimming through the darkness, just staring at that far light, I got depressed, anxious. I tried to find help, but I didn’t know where to start, where to look. At Curtin, there is counselling available for students, but you should go through GP, obtain a mental health plan to access therapy sessions. The GP that I met offered me medication. I knew I needed someone to talk, not medicine. But I started counselling sessions, it was good, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t culturally sensitive. I raised in a very different culture, I see myself as open-minded, but I think what I experienced wasn’t what I needed.

It was like following a framework to provide therapy session; well, the frame wasn’t suitable for me. And you can’t expect a depressed, emotionally challenged mind to fit in that general frame that was not trying to know me and my culture. I tried a private practice that didn’t work at all, you may think of language barrier, I say yes sure that was one obstacle in the therapy process and then again culture. I graduated from Curtin, master of OT. I didn’t know about Richmond Wellbeing till the last semester of my fieldwork at Rockingham hospital that they provide support to CaLD, now I am part of this program, and I believe in it. Because Richmond thinks differently, they are culturally sensitive, they respect and value these differences. Well, the help was there, but I wasn’t aware of it. Anyways, I believe I reached that light, don’t need to swim in that darkness anymore, but the journey has never ended.

Cultural shock is real, feeling depressed, anxious and confused as a result of cultural shock is very real, and the good news is you don’t need to deal with those alone. Help and support are available, and I am proud of being part of the Richmond Wellbeing team. What I learnt from my journey is denying the pain of mental challenges won’t help, ignorance make it worse if you reach for help believe me you will have it, and it feels much better when you know you are not alone.

Bec had her regular chat wit Melanie Jaye from Eden Naturopathy and today they spoke about sleep and how we can get more of it. You can get long term effects of sleep deprivation. Your immune system can get imparied as well as your memory if you don't get enough sleep. There are some vitamins and actions that we can take to help us sleep better. These can be magnesium, some herbal teas such as chamomile and regular exercise can assist in our sleeping patterns. 

It's Mental Health Awareness week and Bec spoke to Kellee Hall who is one of the residents at Richmond Wellbeing's Bassendean Individualised Support accommodation and a participant in the RW Consumer and Family Reference Group, which invites direct feedback from clients and family members, to continually improve on services. Kellee is a voice-hearer and this is usually induced by stress. She was introduced to RW via the Hearing Voices Support Network and is really benefiting from her time at BIS. As part of her recovery at Bassendean she has really enjoyed gardening. “Gardening is really good for you. It’s good for your mind and your physical health. I find it really rewarding. There’s issues with not seeking help at times [in the Indigenous community] because I think there might be a lack of culturally appropriate services. But at RW there are Aboriginal elders and over 20 Aboriginal staff members, which is great. I just wonder whether people realise that it’s ok to ask for help. Don’t be ashamed, there’s help out there.” - Kellee Hall

Lisa Olsen who is the WA representative for the A21 Global Freedom Summit joined Bec in the studio to talk about the summit that is happening this Saturday!

https://www.a21.org/content/home/gqqfio

It is Mental Health Awareness Week and Bec spoke to Trevor Rees who was referred to Richmond Wellbeing through the NDIS and receives outreach support by way of a support worker and says he has been ‘very happy with the decision since’. It took him a few tries to find the support worker that was the right fit for him but once he met Debbie, they just clicked. “She’s been amazing. She helped me with a meal plan, she helped me with scheduling, she’s helped me [get out to appointments, which has been difficult in the past] and she’s very uplifting without being patronising and that’s a very hard thing that I’ve noticed a lot of carers struggle with.” Trevor was diagnosed with stress-induced schizophrenia, depression and anxiety about 10-15 years ago and in the last 6-12 months has made a tremendous amount of personal growth. At times Trevor has struggled with leaving the house to attend meetings or appointments and says his support worker has been helping him overcome this, a great achievement Trevor is rightly proud of. He is a very intelligent man with an interest in all things technical and gadgets. He built his own computer from the ground-up and enjoys gaming, philosophy, psychology, comics and depictions of female empowerment. 

Bec had her regular chat with Graham Irvine who is the Dean of christian formation at Kingsway Christian college. Today they spoke about children's personality types and covered two of the four. Sanguine's personality is fun loving, talkative, great story tellers, a people person and are those who always are willing to volunteer. However, their downfall is a lack of self-discipline and doesn't follow through on tasks. 

The Kleric on the other is somewhat the same as a Sanguine but they are normally the ones who tells others what to do. They are stubborn and think they are always right but they are also our natural born leaders. Allow them control within the frame work you choose. 

Sally Hewitt who is the founder of Ageing Gratefully joins Bec in the studio for a chat about mental health and anxiety. 

If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health, know that help is available 24 hours on 13 11 14.