Tag: trauma

We have progressed a long way in mental health recognition since the 1940s. My message is that our mental health is something to embrace and speak openly about, rather than hide in shame. The Spot Cafe in Portland, a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, was bustling with people, mainly locals....

Whatever mess we find ourselves in, hope is our most powerful get-well tool. When we experience illness or trauma, our recovery becomes a journey and a destination. Along the way, hope provides a lantern when shadows surround us. Our wellbeing aligns with recovery and this has many parts – our...

Theodicy. The word flashed across my mind as I sat motionless among my fellow clients at my first eating disorder treatment center. Three years prior, I had written my final college essay on this term, seeking to answer the universal question, “Where is God in suffering?”  My thoughts actively searched...

I think it’s time my past was made public. I’ve always felt ashamed of it, I suppose, though I realize now I shouldn’t feel this way. I haven’t done anything wrong; I’ve just had an illness. From my memoir A Girl Called Tim Whether you are seven or 70, writing...

Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes the cause is visible and sometimes it is not. The bushfires blazing over much of eastern Australia, including my beloved childhood region of East Gippsland, are sparking trauma for many people. The losses mount. Lives lost. Possessions lost. Livelihoods lost. Essential services...

Imagine embracing the mainstream after decades of incarceration in anorexia nervosa and trauma. For years, Karyn’s eating disorder would not allow her to speak above a whisper, if at all. Fear and stigma silenced her. Working with her treatment team, writing became a safe way to communicate and paved the...