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“The secret to my recovery is that I’ve wanted to help myself.”
What are the things you like about One Door?
I love that it’s just so accepting. When my support system fell apart after 20 years, One Door never let me down. It’s always been really innovative in the way to approach mental illness, things such as the educator speaker, and having members with lived experience on the board are really great. For me to disclose my mental illness in other employment areas has ended up really disastrous, but at One Door disclosing my lived experience of mental illness has been a bonus.
What’s your vision for the future of mental health care in Australia? What would you love to see?
I’d love to see a medication that is prescribed for mental illness that doesn’t have physical side effects. I’d like to see people on medication not over sedated, not over prescribed. What I’d really like to see is diagnosis done right the first time and the medication right the first time, which is what happened to me. The diagnosis and medication was right the first time and I was able to get on with my life.
What advice do you have for someone with a mental illness or someone who’s caring for someone with a mental illness?
Stay informed, there are a lot of services out there. I don’t like hearing the mental health sector whinging and complaining there’s nothing out there. If you look, there are plenty of services out there. It may depend where you are and access, but I don’t like the whinging and complaining. I think that requires a state of mind as well. There’s plenty out there if you look for it but you’ve got to want it. The secret to my recovery is that I’ve wanted to help myself.
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