A COLLECTION OF STORIES
Every year, Orygen welcomes hundreds of young people through our doors to be treated for a range of mental health difficulties. Featuring interviews with young people living with mental ill-health, their families and the people behind the scenes working hard to revolutionise care and treatment, these are their stories...
When Sally started to develop bipolar disorder at age 17, her mum, Alison, didn’t know who to turn to for help. Alison knew something was wrong, but she felt utterly helpless and unsupported. “It took a long time for Sally to be diagnosed. The doctors brushed it off. We tried to make do, but her episodes got steadily worse. I just wish we could have gotten help for her sooner.”
"From a very early age I was having problems. At the age of 12 I was diagnosed with depression. As time went on things got worse for me and I isolated myself from the world, I didn’t leave the house, stopped seeing my friends and wasn’t able to work. I started to become paranoid and delusional, thinking that people were 'trying to get me' and that everyone was talking about me."
"I think it’s hard to explain exactly what bipolar is. Although I’ve struggled with it for years now, I don’t even think I could properly explain what this disorder entails. Am I manic, depressed or in a state of numbness? This is the question I ask myself every single time someone asks, “well what state are you in now?”. To be honest, I don’t think I ever know fully what state I am in."
About five or six years ago, a young man named Tom came to Orygen at age 21. All he wanted to do was work, have a family, and get on with his life. But by the time Tom came to us, he’d had three or four severe bipolar episodes. He had his first episode when he was just 17 or 18, and it was mild. He went to his GP, who waited for him to have a severe psychotic episode before she referred him to our care at Orygen.
"I was about 13 when I stared to feel like something wasn’t right. I was feeling like things just didn’t 'fit together' the way I thought they should, I felt different. I thought it was because I grew up without a dad, but I just couldn’t really figure it out. I told some of my friends that I was feeling low and they told the counsellor at school, so I started getting some counselling which kind of helped."
Around this time of year, Hannah marks an anniversary. But she’s not commemorating a happy event. Far from it. Because on 2nd June 2015, Hannah tried to take her own life.
“That day, I came home from school and I just had enough. I’d asked for help with my anxiety so many times, but I never got an answer. There was nothing there for me. I just felt, what’s the point?”
"By the time I turned 13 so many things in my life had changed. It wasn’t just the mental, emotional and physical changes like every adolescent goes through… but lots of stuff happened that just got on top of me. During these times I was very unhappy, I refused to go to school, I didn’t talk to my friends, and always had dark, gloomy thoughts."
"My name is Mirella and I write to you to tell you about my son James. James was only 22 years old when we lost him to suicide. James was a unique, intelligent and adventurous young man. Unfortunately, in 2010 he began to suffer from depression and other mental health issues – conditions that are significantly affecting young people in Australia today."
"It is so hard to figure out who I am when I am unwell and having a bipolar episode. My character can change into someone I’m not. I have had experiences where I wanted to go to the police station because I thought I was doing something wrong when I wasn’t. I have raised my voice and gotten thrown out of hospitals when I was unwell."
Since 1992, the team at Orygen has been working hard to raise critical funds to ensure young people are supported through their mental health journey. With continued support from our amazing community we can not only help to save lives, but transform them.
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