No Idea How To Deal With Everything

[LFC]

Hi everyone,

I am a 23 year old male who has been suffering with (self-diagnosed) depression and anxiety for about 7-8 years now. I never found the courage to speak to anyone about it at all. I couldnt bare the thought of my family and friends finding out. I got made redundant from a job which I enjoyed and have been unemployed since, struggling to get back into the swing of things. Have spent most of the last few years just in my own shell avoiding everything.

I received a letter from Centrelink as I am currently on Newstart while I look for employment. The letter advised me to call their compliance number about some anomalies with my information. After speaking to the man on the phone I found out that when I was studying an online course in 2014-2015, I wasnt completing units at a rate that constituted as full time study. This was due to many reasons, motivation, mental health issues, living in a household I didnt want to be in. My grandma was in hospital and ended up dying, my mum was in hopsital with DVT, meanwhile Im looking after my 11 year old brother while his nana died and his mother was dying.

The amount I am being told to pay back is in excess of $7,000. I don't have anywhere near this kind of money, any stable income. Seeing as I dont have any medical evidence of my mental health issues at the time they wont accept an appeal on that basis. I currently have to pay several hundred a month extra on top of normal bills for private health insurance as my insulin pump broken and I need a new one (I am a type 1 diabetic).

I have no idea how to handle this situation right now and I dont know where to start.

[MarkJT]

LFC, welcome to the forums and well done for working up the courage to post. Great stuff.

You have a heap on, so lets break this down.

You are self diagnosed which leads me to think that you would have had no treatment for depression and anxiety. You need to get yourself booked into a GP to discuss this. You may be referred to a psych and that is okay. That is their specialty so let them use their expertise and help you recover. Medication may be spoken about as well and this is also fine. There is no difference between psych medication and physical medication. Please pick up the phone and book that appointment. This is your start point.

In regards to Centrelink. I would seek out a meeting, face to face, with a compliance officer and make sure this is right. If it is right, there would be some mechanism where you can show that at that time, you had so much on and other factors that you couldn't study. I do not know whether or not they can do it, but you may get a reduction in costs against you. May be met with a "no" but at least you tried. I would think that they would have some kind of repayment scheme that you could use if you do, in fact have to pay it back.

I want you to get to the GP and then come back here and let us know how you go. I think you will find that once you get your depression and anxiety under control, things will get better.

You do not have to tell anyone else but at the same time, support may come thick and fast if you do tell your family and close mates.

Here to help you through this journey mate so post any questions you want to.

Mark.

[LFC]

Hi Mark,

I recently went to my GP to talk about this. I don't have a regular GP so this wasnt an easy conversation. I am booked into see a specialist in a fortnight but I wasnt able to get in for over 2 months from when I initially visited.

I called centrelink to ask what the best thing for me to do or who I should talk to and the response I got was "what would you like me to do about it"

The reason I havent been able to tell me mum was because she was going through a lot herself and she was suicidal in nature. I kow that if she found out anything was wrong with me she wouldnt have coped at all. And I didnt want that on my shoulders.

Daniel

[MarkJT]

Daniel, fantastic that you had the conversation and are off to see the specialist. That is super news and well done for having that conversation. You are spot on in saying it is not an easy one to have but you worked up the courage to do it. Respect right there.

In regards to not telling your mum, that is completely understandable. Is there anyone else that you think you may be able to confide in?

I'm not confident that Centrelink have given you the best advice or customer service. If you can, persist with it and if needed go in and ask to speak to a Supervisor. They are a service so you should get good service.

Thanks for replying and i am really interested to see how you go with the specialist (is that a psych?).

Mark.