Mental health

If you or any of your friends are struggling please seek help.

My best mate, my groomsman, my arch rival st George supporter who I have a regular kg of prawns and carton of beer bet with. RIP

Please seek help, talk to your friends, suicide is not an option it doesn't solve anything it only creates more problems. Your life is useful no matter how bad things are.

My heart grieves for your lovely family and children.








Please note I am not writing this for your anonymous sympathy replies or a show of support I am trying to tell you all to check that you and your mates seek help if needed.

My deepest condolences to you Sasha. Losing someone you love is not easy and can sometimes be sudden and unexpected. I along with every single poster on this forum is here for you at this time, please do not hesitate to reach out if you need any help with anything whatsoever.

You are incredibly brave to post about your loss and for that you have my respect. I would like to believe that we can all have an open discussion about mental health and the need for anyone to get help if they feel they are struggling.

Thanks Bren

Most workplaces offer free counselling through an Employee Assistance Program.

I've used it plenty of times and really helps. Even if you think that you're coping with something it's still good to just check in and talk to someone.

It won't make all your problems go away but may help you cope better. Thing is it certainly won't make you feel worse.

Great idea / advice Pain.

ED: Didnt want to seem like I was trying to steal your thunder (for lack of a better term) about any of it.

Condolences mate.

Beyond Blue
https://www.beyondblue.org.au

R U OK ?
https://ruok.org.au

Reach Out
http://au.reachout.com/

Lifeline
https://www.lifeline.org.au

Headspace
https://headspace.org.au/

I'm so sorry to hear that Sash, thoughts are with you in this incredibly tough time. Like Bren has said if you need any help and even just a relative stranger to lend an ear I'm sure everyone here would be happy to help you out.

Damn sash, hope you are ok mate. Good call and thanks for sharing.

sorry Sash,

I highly recommend any sort or help or at least speaking to a professional if needs be, always seems hard for a man to talk to someone but on a personal note I can wholeheartedly admit I've talked to someone and it helped massively.

I can personally get overly aggressive, not physically (unless playing sport) especially under the influence, I'm also awful at communicating so that doesn't help but when I went to speak to a professional about why i felt like i did etc and explained my day to day lifestyle, my work habits, interactions with family, missis, kids etc he helped me realise and understand I was in fact normal and gave me some fantastic advise, not just for myself but for the people around me also, tiny changes in lifestyle can help make huge progress. They give you a different perspective

I openly admitted to my mates what I did and where i had been and openly endorse doing the same, my best mate who was a serial cheater took my advice and is in a much better place

Cheers for sharing Welshy.

I never heard anyone say asking for help was a mistake. Most people will admit they should have done it sooner.

I wish I had. And I wish I took medication sooner rather than self medicating with booze and other risky behaviour.

There is a better life there. It just takes time and being willing to admit that you can't do it alone.

Pain wrote:Cheers for  sharing Welshy.

I never heard anyone say asking for help was a mistake. Most people will admit they should have done it sooner.

I wish I had. And I wish I took medication sooner rather than self medicating with booze and other risky behaviour.

There is a better life there. It just takes time and being willing to admit that you can't do it alone.

100% agree mate, the hardest part is always admitting something maybe wrong the next is actually doing something about it

I wish I had sooner, didn't need medication but just listening and communicating properly about how I was felt set the cogs in motion, the professional showed me how to better deal with situations and made me feel normal.

TBH I probably need to go back because it's been a while and sometimes feel like I'm due a slip up

Yeah props for sharing Welshy. I also went through something similar in the latter half of 2016. I really feel like I am making good progress within myself after speaking up and changing certain aspects about myself and my general lifestyle and things I do day to day. Mentally I am in a much better state then I was compared to last year.

Awesome work mate, glad that it's worked out for you and you've encouraged your mates as well.

Honeysett wrote:Awesome work mate, glad that it's worked out for you and you've encouraged your mates as well.

Feels like I've hijacked this thread a bit, that was not m intention, just thought sharing a personal story can highlight the good seeking help can do, I'm no saint or preacher but I feel I can offer advice based on my own experience.

Great community we have here, I'm glad Sash felt he could share such a sad personal episode

I think anytime people promote mental health awareness is a good thing and wouldn't be deemed hijacking. I'm sure Sash would look at this and be happy to see that he's laid a platform for others to help out.

No Worries wrote:Beyond Blue
https://www.beyondblue.org.au

R U OK ?
https://ruok.org.au

Reach Out
http://au.reachout.com/

Lifeline
https://www.lifeline.org.au

Headspace
https://headspace.org.au/

If anyone reading this is going through a tough time and you find it hard to talk to people you know then I highly recommend the organisations above.
Being able to talk anonymously to a stranger was a lot easier for me. There was no judgement and no one trying to tell me 'not to worry about it'. My problems were not solved in one phone call but just being able to talk about it with no pressure definitely helped.

Have been there myself as well a few times. This thread is a wonderful reflection of the community we have built over the years.

Read through and was intending to post what SI did.

Really impressed with the responses in this thread.

Thoughts with you and those around you, Sash.

My 2c: Talk to someone. A professional, or a friend... doesn't matter. Start somewhere.
When your thoughts are telling you that your friends will judge you or you're weak or soft or people won't understand - don't listen to them. Push these negative and false thoughts away. Doesn't matter if you're struggling with work, relationship, sexuality, any kind of pressure - your mates are your mates and they love you and they want to know if something is troubling you and they sure as hell want to help.

Boyd's story

Darius Boyd deserves a round of applause for being so open for what he is going through and how he found help when he was struggling. A great example of how it can be helped if you're willing to speak about the problems.