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Isolated

R.Penn
Community Member

Hey, I wanted to reach out again and have a chat with someone who wants to listen. 
 

I have had a really rough last 2022. It’s a very long story. I have GAD and possible APD. I recently tried to get back onto MHCP after living in a caravan for the last 6 months. I am now in a much better position and consider myself lucky to have such a beautiful old rental and living with my old cat and partner. I am currently unemployed again, I have had a rocky career Road. My HSP and anxieties make it hard to stay in a job long term. My longest has only been a year working for someone else and 10 yrs on and off freelance design and illustration. I have moved around a bit and have lost touch with a lot of people I used to know. I only have one close friend and she lives in Melbourne. My family are very broken and we keep to ourselves and hardly visit. My mother and father are narcissistic and self absorbed. I wanted to get onto a MHCP and see a new psychologist but I just gave up, they have changed the Medicare rebates now and I can’t afford a gp and pay $200 upfront for a psych each visit while I am on centrelink. I consider myself grateful but I do find I need support with my depression and anxiety, I am 33 and feel aimless, I have tried having long term goals but covid ruined that. I just need help finding purpose in my daily living and I don’t really get to talk to anyone unless it’s my partner, or the checkout lady where I shop. I feel so alone and I don’t mind being on my own I like my company but I’m finding my life very boring and sedentary and loneliness keep creeping back in. I would love to find a support group in Queensland… I just feel older now and like I won’t find anyone I can connect with. I also am isolating because I have to learn my own boundaries and find I have gone the opposite way and withdrawn from society so I don’t get hurt again…. Can anyone relate?

3 Replies 3

smallwolf
Community Champion
Community Champion

I'm sorry to hear that you've been going through such a tough time. It sounds like you're doing your best to manage your GAD and possible APD, and I'm proud of you for making a fresh start after living in a caravan. Being unemployed can be challenging, and the other challenges making it difficult to hold down a job, but I'm glad you do have a supportive partner and your old cat to keep you company.

 

Loneliness can be a difficult thing to deal with, especially when you feel like you're missing out on social connections and support from others. It sounds like you're looking for ways to find purpose and meaning in your daily life, and I understand why you're feeling aimless and isolated. As far as getting support, have you considered Lifeline or Anglicare and similar organisations? I would think that Lifeline would be able to point you in the right direction for getting support. And as far as organisations like Anglicare are concerned, they operate on the basis that everyone should have access to mental health care, so it might be worth trying to contact them?

 

Hey... and i am here also if you wanted to chat. 🙂

R.Penn
Community Member

Thank you for your reply Smallwolf, 

 

I have contacted lifeline in the past, they are good and gave me 11 free counselling sessions over the last 6 months. I am having a better mood this morning but am sad again as I dont have much money and don’t really know where to go to find some activity. I didn’t know I could contact Anglicare, I thought that was only for a certain age group of people. I shall investigate. I am having trouble maintaining my relationship with my mum and feeling guilty but she has been pretty horrible saying mean things so I just need a break from her contacting me. I do need some more therapy I think. I am lucky to have what I have and I applied for a job this morning so hopefully I can get some work again which will give me routine again. Thank you for your support I greatly appreciate your time and effort and words. 🙂

smallwolf
Community Champion
Community Champion

Things take time. And some things take longer than others. Our experiences and issues within can play a part in how long things might take to get better, and if it goes up and down that's normal.  But well done to you for applying for a job. Do you want to share a little about what sort of job it is? Curious.