Hands up those who feel uncomfortable about going to the doctor about a mental
health problem? Now for those who are saying they're uncomfortable with it,
which is just about everybody, what were you thinking? Well what sort of things
went through your mind? The worst thing that happens to teenagers is so much of
what they're feeling gets invalidated because they're teenagers, because
they're kids and we have this perception that, oh it's hormones I'll just grow out
of it, it's just a problem phase. If it's not a problem phase they may have just
walked themselves into a lifelong disorder.
I was in my second year of university, and during that time I was diagnosed
with an eating disorder called anorexia nervosa. So I was probably about 19 and I
found myself engaging in behaviours that led me down a really awful path. I, being
a psychology student, knew that the behaviours weren't okay, I knew that what
I was doing was not okay but I couldn't stop it. My mum has actually said to me
the worst thing I ever told her during that period was that I stopped knowing
who I was because everything that came out of my mouth during that period was
trying to justify behaviours I knew were going to kill me. And at the worst part
of it my iron levels dropped so low that I had to be hospitalised and given a
blood transfusion because my hemoglobin, which is a part of your blood,
had dropped to such low levels that the doctors were actually surprised I was
conscious. I cannot remember a day when I wasn't scared or uncomfortable so it was
pretty terrifying and it was just incredibly confronting.
Probably about 2016 I was officially discharged from the eating disorders program.
I had gotten up to a good weight, I had stopped being terrified of food, all that
jazz and I just started seeing a normal everyday psychologist to deal with the
reason I got myself into that mess and that was actually my anxiety disorder.
My whole world is mental health, not just adolescents but for adults, my research
area, my whole career is based around mental health and being able to do this
and to really connect with kids and share what was honestly an awful experience
for me with them so that they don't have to go through it, it's amazing and yeah I
don't think I would be where I am if I hadn't have taken this kind of
opportunity to share my story.
By children and young people hearing the
lived experience of real people who they can connect with, they're actually more
likely to go out and seek help. They're more likely to talk to their counselor,
they're more likely to talk to their parents or people who they trust.
I got the first symptom about 25 years ago, it became a very strong anxiety, sharp
pain in the mind. Because of the stigma of it all, I stood outside the surgery
and even though I was in a lot of pain, I was thinking to myself will I go in,
will I not, will I go in and I did.
Reduce stigma, which is a large thing. If they've
got some sort of problem that they go and get help early, rather than wait
until it's a, things are a mess. And if they do have some sort of mental illness
they should not give up, that there's always hope that they can come out the other side.
I think it's an absolute help to be in a school setting because there are
already networks of help set up inside the school and there's also connections
to the Australian Curriculum where teachers are required to teach
help-seeking behaviours and well-being lessons.
Could all the number ones please stand up? Stand up, straight.
So this represents the amount of people who will experience a
mental health problem in their lifetime. Number two's can you stand up? So you guys
represent the friends, the family of somebody with a mental health issue.
What have we got standing, half? So that represents the amount of people in our
population who will experience a mental health problem in their lifetime.
I found Alan's very interesting I didn't realise how you can get so much pain and trouble for
all that and how long things can take to actually get over it. Stigma really has
an awful effect on how people, actually being able to reach out and go and talk about their
mental illness and that like really stuck with me. It's a powerful experience
hearing about these stories and finding out about ways that other
people have gotten to it and maybe they'll help me or people I know.
I guess the key message would be just to listen to your kids if they are having
the courage to come to you and tell you that they think something's not okay. You
know it may have taken them weeks, months even to get to that point so listen to
them. If they say I'm not feeling great, I'm always stressed, I just feel really
unpleasant, my stomach hurts, take them to see someone. Be the person that helps
them through that process because there was no way in hell I was going to take
myself to the doctor. You know my mum just kept asking, are you okay, is
everything okay, do you need help? And it was on my own terms that I came to her
and said yes, but I wouldn't have if she didn't ask. I think we're actually in a
really interesting point in time where young people have access to so much
information but yet stigma is still such a big player in the mental health sector,
in help-seeking. So it's really important to teach young people to and how to seek help.