- When I was 18, I had bad depression
and I spent a week in Glenside voluntary,
to help me get back on track.
(gentle music playing)
- When I became unwell, conversation was the last thing
I wanted to do.
I didn't want to talk about how I felt.
I'd been constantly thinking about killing myself.
I don't get out very often, due to anxiety.
I live on my own.
- My health has been good, like when I was 16,
but as I got older, I started to learn more
about the voices in my head.
I got scared.
I thought that she was a real person.
- Diagnosed probably 4 1/2 years ago with bipolar.
But I'd been running around since I was a kid
with no idea why I was reacting the way I was
to certain things.
- People with symptoms of mental illness
have had a rough deal.
It can be making your life shaking under your feet,
like things change a lot.
Relationships with your loved ones change.
To relate with the community in general changes.
And that, for me, has been the reason
to become a mental health nurse,
and be generous and compassionate.
- The first couple of days were a bit scary,
but they weren't in my face like I expected.
They actually gave me a chance to catch my breath a bit.
- I saw that courtesy and understanding.
And the willingness to listen and listen deeply,
and understand what people are saying
and a non-judgmental way is very important.
A lot of our consumers haven't done a lot of things
for a lot of years, so when you reintroduce them back
to services that can really help them,
it's like a social area.
They tend to do very, very well from it.
- I'm very interested in how the mental health condition
has influenced or impacted on the everyday things
that people do, shopping, cooking, cleaning.
But also, making sure people are getting out and having fun.
- The Rural and Remote Inpatient Unit is aligned
with the recovery framework,
a practise which supports or enables consumers
to use this time to the best of their ability,
to give them the tools to actually help them get better.
Really, it's a consumer-centered approach,
where we're going to be listening to the consumer's ideas,
their thoughts, their goals, and supporting them
to actually gain as much knowledge and skill
to actually take that home
and to live a better, more meaningful life.
- Each client that has been referred
will get a clinician allocated to him
to work as care coordinator.
And that person will accompany the client
in his road on recovery.
- I probably got the most out of the unit
from the conversations I've had
with not only with the staff here, but also the other people
going through the process.
- One of my friends came over and she found me,
and I was just sitting on my bathroom floor.
I was bawling my eyes out.
I didn't feel like I could go on.
So with her help, she took me to the hospital,
and I spoke to doctors.
And I can personally say it was the best decision
I ever made, letting them send me here.
They have absolutely saved my life.
- There's Carrie, there's Dawn, there's Kelly,
there's Karen, and Darrell.
Yeah, they all helped me get through the tough times.
- I think back now, I was at my worst to end up there.
But if I didn't end up there, where I'd be,
I don't even think I would make it to now.
- It's much better staying at home in Riverland,
in my own community, where I know people
and my family can come and visit me.
And I'm allowed to go home each day and to play with my dogs
and a lot of the staff know people that you know.
So instead of having complete strangers deal with you,
you sort of know the people that you're dealing with here.
It's just a lot better to be in your own community
when you're, sort of, not well.
(gentle music playing)
- I have now finished the DBT course,
that is now currently run at the hospital.
The Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is a therapy based
around work to do with people
with borderline personality disorder.
It's skills-based, so it's all about practise,
and it's all about learning about yourself
and where you stand in the world.
And it works.
It changed perspectives for me.
It made me look at a different side
of what life could be like.
I am heavily dependent on my mother,
although that is changing.
Which is due to the course.
- No one likes to go to the hospital
when they don't really think they need to,
but this is my second time in here.
And it probably won't be my last time,
to be perfectly honest.
It's hard, because you try
and live a normal life as possible.
There used to be a real stigma attached to (mumbles).
And everyone would say, Darren's in Glenside,
he's gone a bit loopy.
But you don't have to be loopy before you need help.
- They got me signed up from the IPS Program,
individual placement support, so that they could get me
into looking at employment.
And one of the jobs I applied for was an administration officer
here at the hospital.
And I've been here about two months,
and for two months, I've actually been with
the community mental health team.
So the very people that looked after me,
I'm now doing admin support for.
It just helped me build back up into getting back to life.
(gentle music playing)