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Sophie_M Meet your community champions!
  • replies: 10

Hi everyone, We wanted to share with you the way that our wonderful Community Champions are here to support you. You may have noticed that a few of our Forums members are labelled ‘Community Champion’. Community Champions are volunteers within the Be... View more

Hi everyone, We wanted to share with you the way that our wonderful Community Champions are here to support you. You may have noticed that a few of our Forums members are labelled ‘Community Champion’. Community Champions are volunteers within the Beyond Blue Forums who: have the time, skills and empathy to support other members regularly; help to welcome new members; are actively engaged members that help set the tone of our community. Our Community Champions are regular contributors to many conversations across the forums. They are a consistent and friendly voice that have committed to sharing their experience and expertise with this community. They are not health care professionals or clinicians. Like you, they have an experience with a mental health challenge or diagnosis – either for themselves or someone they care for. This forum is for people who understand what it feels like and have a lived and living experience of mental health challenges. Our Community Champions help everyone feel comfortable and confident by demonstrating what excellent peer support is all about. Click here to find out more about how you can become a Community Champion! This incredible team are excited to introduce themselves below, and we are sure you’ll see them around the forums in conversations important to you.

Aaronsis HELP..Am I posting in the right section?
  • replies: 10

Welcome to those who are considering posting for the very first time, welcome. Thought I would repost part of the words that Chris B posted awhile ago, (2014) as I can hear that people are unsure if they are posting in the right section or worried th... View more

Welcome to those who are considering posting for the very first time, welcome. Thought I would repost part of the words that Chris B posted awhile ago, (2014) as I can hear that people are unsure if they are posting in the right section or worried that they are posting "the wrong thing". 1.A good title makes the difference Just like a headline in a newspaper, when scanning the dozens of threads to click into, it’s only natural that people will choose the ones that resonate with them most. A title that entices the reader, or asks a question, is likely to get a better result than something non-descriptive like “Depression” or “I don't know what to do”. If you think you’re not good at choosing titles, leave it till last. Spend time writing your post, then perhaps choose a sentence from what you’ve written as the title. 2.Join in threads that have already been posted We all have our own unique stories, but part of the reason for joining a forum like this one is because you know that you will have a lot in common with others who are posting. Before starting a new thread, have a look through the current topics being discussed and see if there’s a conversation you can join in with. It can be quite common to have a handful of very similar threads happening at any one time, with members seemingly unaware that there are others right there who are going through the same thing. Talking to other members on their threads is a great way of getting yourself known so that when you post a thread of your own, people may respond quicker because they recognize your name. 3.Choose the most appropriate section for your post Many people browse the forums looking for stories specifically to do with pregnancy and parenting, employment, grief, loss, separation etc. Going straight for the “Depression” section may seem like the easiest option, but this section is often the busiest, so your post is more likely to get lost among the threads. Making good use of the different forum sections not only helps keep the forum relevant, but you’re more likely to find others who are going through the same experiences as you. Also, if you're wanting to discuss issues of trauma, abuse, suicidal thoughts or self-harm, it's really important you post in the designated section to avoid triggering others who may not wish to read about these topics. Mostly..just come and chat, we are here for you. Our amazing wizards in the background will see your message ends up in the right spot. Sarah

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ClearQuietness Unsure if I still have any fight left in me.
  • replies: 16

Hello, Can I start by saying, I understand that there is people out there with way bigger ploblems both psyhically and mentally than myself. I've struggled with alcoholism my whole adult life, and as much as it affectd my life, I never did anything a... View more

Hello, Can I start by saying, I understand that there is people out there with way bigger ploblems both psyhically and mentally than myself. I've struggled with alcoholism my whole adult life, and as much as it affectd my life, I never did anything about it. This year it's all come crashing down as I knew it would. I've lost my wife and my beautiful kids because they had, had enough and last weekend I finally got caught Drink Driving. A few other things have gone south for me as well in the last few years which I tend to ignore or drink away. I understand I have been caught in a depessive cycle which I have hid from everyone for as long as I can remember. I wanted to give up this morning but thought I would reached out to a friend. They were too busy and to be honest, I don't blame them, It's an uncomfortable situation for most people and I haven't been a great friend. So here I am, fighting my mental demons, trying to find reason for anything good - then I found this forum and I've being doing a lot of reading. I've decided that my kids are worth more to me than alcohol. I truely hope I have the strength because one thing I know about acoholics we promise the world and deliver missery. The alternate is a extreme dark and closed off place and it's time I left that environment or I'm dead anyway. Sorry for the rant, I didn't know where to go and it's help me by writing this down. Brett

Sahara_lonely_planet Way too much
  • replies: 3

Hello everyone I’m a toddler twin mum in stage 4 locked down. I feel more isolated than ever now. I don’t have many friends at all and the few I have, are in no mood of keeping contact these days. I Have a sister in Melbourne who had completely cut m... View more

Hello everyone I’m a toddler twin mum in stage 4 locked down. I feel more isolated than ever now. I don’t have many friends at all and the few I have, are in no mood of keeping contact these days. I Have a sister in Melbourne who had completely cut me out of her life for no reason. Well,She claims that I don’t fit into her life. She excluded me and totally abandoned me for the same reason. She is extremely competitive and I had achieved things a bit quicker than her and each time she cried for days because of that. She is older than me and to everyone’s surprise she is a psychologist. I just can’t get over the feeling of being abandoned. I’m not sure why it is taking me such a long time to accept that and move on. Specially these days when I get so so tired of the feeling isolated and lonely, i wish I had her beside me. Maybe I should also mention that I have no other relatives in the country. Thank you for reading

Steinbeck Small Business Owner
  • replies: 10

I own a business and my anxiety levels are up and down and up and down and although I can immerse myself in work during the day I don't sleep at night and worry all the time. Financially we are struggling and I am scared we will lose everything. If i... View more

I own a business and my anxiety levels are up and down and up and down and although I can immerse myself in work during the day I don't sleep at night and worry all the time. Financially we are struggling and I am scared we will lose everything. If it wasn't for my kids and grandkids I may not be here it has felt so bad. I know all the ways to cope and sometimes I'm ok but it's a real effort. On the outside I seem ok. I wish someone would come to me to help with finances. I need to be rescued, I can't do it myself. I just want an angel to pop up with an answer.

Ann1234567 Staying "connected"
  • replies: 2

I'm in stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne. People as well as in the news stories they keep saying "stay connected" to friends and family because it helps with mental health. I find it ok for the most part because I have friends and family who phone. Altho... View more

I'm in stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne. People as well as in the news stories they keep saying "stay connected" to friends and family because it helps with mental health. I find it ok for the most part because I have friends and family who phone. Although, there is this one group of friends I have who only message on facebook. I'm getting tired of chatting online through this facebook app and I wish there would be more advertising on how a phone call is better than messages. Also, how a old fashioned phonemail should be considered sometime instead of Zoom because some people don't have the technology. Younger people don't seem to understand that making a phone call is not a bad thing and it's just as easy as a message. Please call each other.

Crochet_queen Just hanging in there *TRIGGER WARNING*
  • replies: 3

Hi, I am new to this and I am not sure what to say really. This is not my first time dealing with depression. I struggled badly around 16 years ago and attempted to take my life. With lots of help I got through that dark time and have had many ups an... View more

Hi, I am new to this and I am not sure what to say really. This is not my first time dealing with depression. I struggled badly around 16 years ago and attempted to take my life. With lots of help I got through that dark time and have had many ups and downs since but this time I am finding it harder to deal with. My GP suggested calling but I am not much of a talker, especially with my partner and kids in the house. I often feel alone and like I am a total failure. I have just changed medication as I found my last one made my chronic migraines worse. Only 2 days into new meds and really struggling today. Hopefully chatting here will help me and others who like me are just hanging in there.

Red_Velvet A First Step
  • replies: 11

Hi, I’m a young girl who you can call Red, what’s a sad parody of my own name. I haven’t been actually diagnosed for anything, but I believe I have a bipolar disorder... I experience the amazing highs only to drop down onto these empty bottomless low... View more

Hi, I’m a young girl who you can call Red, what’s a sad parody of my own name. I haven’t been actually diagnosed for anything, but I believe I have a bipolar disorder... I experience the amazing highs only to drop down onto these empty bottomless lows and I find myself craving my euphoric highs even though they scare others around me because at least when I have those I don’t have to face reality head on. I want to tell my parents, but I don’t know how and I’m scared to. I’m scared they’ll not understand, brush it off, or waste money on me only for there to be nothing wrong. But I know I need help to get better and finding out who I really am, am I a hyper outgoing person, or a needy sad child? It’s this never ending cycle of viscous thoughts that either appear to fast to remember or so achingly slow it hurts. There a constant ringing of thoughts in my ears that unnerves me to my core and makes me feel watched. There a few things that have triggered them to be way worse than normal: my family’s financial problems, school friendship problems and a severe head injury that!s impaired my vision. I don’t know or how to handle this because I’ve always been so busy I didn’t have time to think about how I feel and now with Codvid-19 lockdown over in my town I realised that now I can’t stop thinking about it. I know it’s pretty selfish for me to go and say my life is terrible when others could be suffering much worse fated than me, but it’s to much for me to handle sometimes... Sorry for ranting on and on, I just need some advice on the first step of getting help and telling my parents and confirmation that this is a rational reaction to how I’m feeling and what’s happening.. I’m sure others might need a push for this first step too. Thanks for reading at least.. Have a nice day/night and remember that I think you are all pretty cool and a lot braver than me. -Red

Blueillusion struggling and dont want to uplug
  • replies: 4

I have spent the whole day trying to fill out a form to try to get a fair go and to get assistance and help in making these payments fair but it is sending me into the red and is hurting my head. Just when I feel like I am making headway, something b... View more

I have spent the whole day trying to fill out a form to try to get a fair go and to get assistance and help in making these payments fair but it is sending me into the red and is hurting my head. Just when I feel like I am making headway, something brings me down. I am trying really hard to not be a paranoid person but I have a very creative mind and tend to believe that my intuition is true and correct. I am burning out and hurting my partner which I love more than anything In the world, she is always supportive and has stuck by me in the toughest of times. Although I am aware of my shortcomings they always get the best of me and I struggle to trust everyone, I struggle to trust the government, I struggle to trust the system, I hate the fact that I am human, I hate the fact the I am a part of society, feel like the only way to beat the system is to “unplug” from the system and this is where I focus on suicidal ideology. I don’t want to end my life, I love my daughter and she keeps me alive. The struggle is real and I hate the struggle. I have taken a mental health day off work today to try to sort out a CS1970 child support form but just had a headache all day trying to fill out this form, buying a printer, no stock anywhere fir printer cartridges within a 5km radius, although I have tried to get the forms filled by lunchtime It had taken me from morning until noon which had left me with no time to study for the next online assessment that is due next Sunday. I had seen the dr today because I needed a mental health day to try to clear my head and work on layering my issues and dealing with them one by one as opposed to viewing all the issues I have as one huge dilemma. Life isn’t going as planned and covid, a toxic work environment which results in under appreciation of my work ethic, my study pressure and desire to achieve higher than standard results, stress I create in my relationship due to ptsd is killing my ability to connect on a healthy level with my partner. I struggle seeing people happy when there is nothing to be happy about, we are living in a world of government agenda and complete control and I feel powerless, I view tax as theft, I feel government is stripping our lives of our ability be to be live the human life as it should be and the way we live in society is completely manipulated and controlled by government policy. I am not a political person I actually have no desire in understanding politics, I just see politics and governments policies a form of stripping us as human beings. Im sorry for ranting on but I jest need to get it out there because all aspects of life at the moment for me feel like a pressure cooker ready to explode. Please do not go hard on me here as I am just trying to reach out and gain some perspective and support, I have suffered depression before and have been on anti depressants and I do not want to go down that path again, although it helped me I believe the solution to my issues is tackling them one by one and layering these issues and dealing with them one by one.I can identify my problems and fixing these but I am just at a low point at the moment and I feel that surrounding myself with experienced, supporting, understanding like minded people here that have experience in mental health is a positive start. My underlying issues are trust in relationships with my own relationship, stresses related to part time university obligations and a collapsing and non supportive toxic work environment. I don’t want to end my life but the allure of unplugging is strong and I need help and advise and some positive assuremen regarding a light at the end of the tunnel. I feel a huge disconnect with my loved one and I feel My emotional state is effecting the relationship beyond return and it seems to be a vicious cycle. Thank you for taking the time to read try story, I really appreciate it. Please help me be the best I can be mentally because I am at tipping point at the moment and I am scared not for me but for the people around me who love me the most and really wish not to destroy my loved one and cause trauma the would last a lifetime for them. Tim

Jessicaman Obesity and depressed
  • replies: 4

Hi everyone I always had depression and in last one year I become obese after my son s birth. I become so obese that I couldn't work . I am a HealthCare workers. I am now staying home for 3 months and eating healthy , exerciseing to lose weight . I a... View more

Hi everyone I always had depression and in last one year I become obese after my son s birth. I become so obese that I couldn't work . I am a HealthCare workers. I am now staying home for 3 months and eating healthy , exerciseing to lose weight . I am so effected because my weight was the thing which made me unable to work.i feel so responsible for that . I also wonder that will I ever be able to work normally. Will I ever be able to loose weight. Will my life ever return to normal. These anxious thoughts making me so depressed. If anyone can help me With some suggestions.

Ryan_W Being a Teen in The Current Community
  • replies: 4

Where do I begin, things are hard that is for sure. I am looking around the library at school, that is for sure. But what is not for sure is my train of thoughts, how I feel, what to do as of this moment. First of all year, nine is difficult, all the... View more

Where do I begin, things are hard that is for sure. I am looking around the library at school, that is for sure. But what is not for sure is my train of thoughts, how I feel, what to do as of this moment. First of all year, nine is difficult, all the assessments, the daily tasks, lack of friends and painful feelings and emotions. I will be strong, I will be strong (I always tell myself this), does it work? NO, well maybe, I don't know. More directly I lost a friend this year, suicide. Secondly, I know my only two friends (who are in a relationship) are both harming. They are stressed, drawn out and tired. Finally I don't even know what to do or who I am anymore, what do I do?