Lived Experience Forum

[TuxedoCat]

❤️ awww @creative_writer!! Look at us!

Yeah, this is something I've been thinking about a lot too. I feel like in a lot of areas of social work, triggers may come up. Even if we chose to not work in specific areas. The idea of being less impacted them is so powerful. I can see you taking control of that, even if it takes time ❤️ 

I know for me, I used to find parts of this job so triggering. And it's taken a little while, but I've slowly learnt to cope and manage that, but also put in boundaries. It's been so nice to have the realisation that I'm not alone is dealing with any of it. There are always colleagues and managers there to chat with. 

[creative_writer]

@TuxedoCat ❤️ ❤️

I feel like it's not even 100% possible to even avoid all triggers, it's just part of life. We are constantly exposed to content in social media, on the tv, around us in our environments, conversations etc. Having support does help, but I often feel like I lack it though. I have a psychologist but nobody to really talk to if I am upset. Maybe I am too private, but keeping up this mask is hard. I didn't tell Lifeline I was triggered by SA because of my own experiences, I know supervision is good, but I feel like I can't tell people. Nor can I talk to family. It's impossible for me to keep in touch with friends frequently enough. I'll just end up going to bed crying and dealing with it myself because that's what I grew up knowing. It feels safer to be vulnerable alone.

[TuxedoCat]

yeah totally, I agree that it's impossible to avoid all triggers. It seems to be more about how we cope with them afterwards?

And I'm sorry that you feel you're lacking some support. I can hear it's super important to you and for your MH to have support outside our psychologist (a very human need to have friends!) but that it's a struggle for you to keep in touch enough. 

Have you thought about how you might change this?

I know for me, my ADHD can sometimes LITERALLY make me forget people exist. Plus general MH stuff makes it hard to want to spend time with people. And this has made it hard with friendships, to be completely honest. But I realised I really wanted to have more connection, so I found some ways to do it which work for me (a list of friends I message every few weeks, doing activities I enjoy with them like walks or craft). It's tough, but from my experience, it's possible to make the change. Not sure if you relate to this at all, but thought I'd share ❤️ 

[creative_writer]

@TuxedoCat I think learning to cope with triggers is important.

I think part of the problem is not able to to physically catch up with friends because none of them are close by. It’s not the same over social media. I have issues with making new friends too, I just can’t seem to connect and feel like I have to put on a mask until I know I can trust them. When I am around people with a mask on I feel even more lonely.

❤️

[creative_writer]

I need a reason to keep fighting. My heart is so broken.

[hanami]

Hey there @creative_writer 

I'm wondering what has kept you going in the past? 

Hanami ❤️

[Sphinxly]

Hey @creative_writer, i'm glad you reached out today. Sorry to hear you're in so much pain. Do you want to talk about it?

Please reach out to our Help Centre if you need some counselling support- 1800 187 263, and there is Lifeline for urgent support 13 11 14.

Here with you,

Sphinxly.

[creative_writer]

@hanami and @Sphinxly I have my coping strategies, like grounding, relaxation stuff, and distraction. Sometimes even with the coping strategies, I feel so low, alone and lost. I sometimes feel like I lose a sense of direction, and start feeling like I don't matter. People may say they care, but I feel like they would move on and they have other people in their life so I don't know how much difference I make in their life.

[hanami]

That's tough to feel that way @creative_writer . We care about your here. I see the other members here showing genuine care towards you too. I'm sure when people say they care they really do. When we are feeling so low we just can't see the positives in anything much at all ❤️

[creative_writer]

@hanami I genuinely don't feel like I have those "connections" as other people do. I am really low right now and don't have much self-worth so life is upside down right now.

❤️