Mind Warriors

Hello Mind Warriors,

My name is Geanette,

I started this group in order to provide a safe, respectful, honest, confidential space where we could meet and share our feelings. We have open honest discussions about a range of topics including depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. The group is made up of individuals from different backgrounds and experiences that are like minded.

We meet every Monday evening at Coburg from 6pm onwards to share our experiences. We come together to talk, listen, cry or just be present to support one another.

I had what most would consider a regular normal boring life. I would go to work, go to the gym, talk and catch up with my friends and take my dog for walks every day. I would talk to my mother before heading off to work, at lunchtime to check she was ok and then see her when I got home from work in the afternoon. I was lucky to not only have her as my beautiful mother, she was also my best friend. She was my go to person, my lifeline and guide in life. <br>This all changed abruptly in May 2018 when I had to rush my mother to the emergency department after coming home from work to find her very ill. After a seven week stay in hospital and despite the best efforts of doctors my mother passed away.

Since that awful day in June 2018 when I lost my world I went through a change. I began to be forgetful, restless, lacking energy, angry, sad, an insomniac, paranoid and many other things. I began to think that I was going crazy and losing my mind, this wasn't helped by my work colleagues. I was told to move on, get over it, think positive thoughts, stop wearing black, get back to the gym and smile again. This seemed to reinforce the idea that I was somehow broken, faulty, defective and that whatever was wrong with me I had to fix somehow quickly to make others feel better around me.

I now know that there is nothing wrong with me and it's perfectly ok to feel the way I feel. I also discovered by talking to others that I wasn't the only one to feel this way, this came as a huge shock to me. It opened my eyes to see that there are so many people struggling on their own who are made to feel like they are broken or defective by society.

It has taken time for me to try and process things and I'm still doing it daily. <br>The only thing now is that I am not alone.

My mother was my greatest inspiration in life and I will end my introduction by quoting her:-

"You have to keep going forward" - Mary

(But you don't have to do it alone - Geanette)