AMAA: With Saltwaterdreamtime
This month formerly Ask A Pro Live is getting a makeover - welcome to Ask Me Almost Anything. Same event but different name which highlights the value of having these discussions with peers as well as professionals.
This month we are doing something super special. We are really excited to kick off the event name change by talking to a leader in our community here on the forum. This is someone who has been part of the ReachOut family for a very long time and someone we are really proud of.
Our very own @Saltwaterdreamtime is our guest for this months Ask Me Almost Anything! Shoot through your questions as we will be chatting about their journey with mental health and experience as a proud Arrernte man. Read saltwaterdreamtime's bio below:
"I go by saltwaterdreamtime and I am a 25 year old Arrernte man living in Wadawurrung country. These two places are so different but mean so much to mean in different ways, and I can’t wait to be able to tell you more about why they are special to me. I’ve been using Reach Out for about 6 or 7 years now, it has been a really big part of my journey through difficulties with my mental health. I’ve lived with a number of mental health issues for a long time, and although I still have some bad days sometimes I know how to look after myself and what I need to do to manage my wellbeing, and keep on top of it.
I feel my time with ReachOut has been a huge part of that. I’m really really looking forward to being a part of this chat, NAIDOC week is a great opportunity for me to show off one of the things that is most important to me which is my culture."
I'm looking forward to this one and I bet you all are too. We will be chatting this Thursday the 12th of November, so get your questions in fast and set a reminder to join in.
Join us LIVE November 12th 7pm - 9pm AEDT
You can call me names and sometimes it hurts. But are you a part of the longest living culture in the world!? No, didn’t think so. Sit down.
@Saltwaterdreamtime 100% agree with you on that. I will never understand people creating programs/events/ etc for people but not actually consulting the people who the program/event/etc is for. 
@Hozzles I think that's so true. Something can be well-intended but it might not actually be very practical or helpful for the people it was actually designed for. I also think it's important to look at people's different experiences rather than treating whole groups of people as having the same experience.
We've only got a couple of questions left for the evening folks!
Here's our next one...
8. What do you love about your culture? And How do you celebrate your culture and identity?
It's been wonderful to have learnt so much tonight, so many incredible responses coming through. I love learning about what supports people find helpful, V keen to hear your answer to this Q @Saltwaterdreamtime
9. What has been the most helpful support you received in terms of your mental health?
How the turn tables indeed @Saltwaterdreamtime !!!
This is our final Q of the night! I think it’s quite a nice one to end on...
10. What are some of the biggest lessons you've taken from being part of ReachOut?
(Mandatory Koala reaching out gif below)
10. What are some of the biggest lessons you've taken from being part of ReachOut?
I’m going to be a little sad when I leave. My biggest lesson would be understanding and accepting diversity. I’ve already touched on it briefly but when I was feeling my worst, I acted the worst towards others and I was really judgemental and angry inside my head.
But now I truly understand how everybody is just so DIFFERENT. And it’s awesome! I love it!
I used to place people in boxes and think “wow what a weirdo” and now I’m like “hey we’re all different and there is actually really is no such thing as normal”.
I used to hate when people said that but it really is true. This community is full of wonderful people who bring so much, each person brings something different and I love it.
To put it simply, individuality is awesome, be proud, stand tall, because you are a legend just the way you are.
The translates into real life too. I used to walk past somebody and maybe think.... yikes. But now I’m like we all bleed the same blood, and we are all human. That person is a human with thoughts, feelings and emotions, I wonder what they are up to today, I hope they have a good day.
We're so lucky to have you here in our community @Saltwaterdreamtime! You bring so much to it. This AMAA is only one such example. Thank you for chatting to us tonight! 🙂
I really liked what you said about recognising everyone's different experiences. It has really helped me to consider that I might not know what someone is going through or how they might interpret something I tell them.
Speaking of animals by the way, we just had a very large animal run across our roof, we get them most nights. We usually have a family of possums that like to live in our front yard at night. At any point in the night you can wake up and hear them all descending on our roof. Sounds like they are having a party. The first night we moved into this house I went outside because I thought it was feral cats. They were not feral cats. They were feral possums.
One more thing!!
This is so cool, and you can order clothes specifically for mob or allies.
We just ordered a few things for our household.
Just one of the local Indigenous businesses KILLING IT.
Okay I'm not going to lie, I did actually tear up a few times reading through this chat. This thread encapsulates everything I love about our community. The willingness to learn, the mutual respect, the lols and the personal growth. @Saltwaterdreamtime I cannot thank you enough for opening up to us all, for sharing your journey to discover your culture and just being you. I think I speak for everyone when I say how sad we'll be when you age out, but wow, aren't we so lucky to have had you here. Such a wholesome chat everyone thank you all so much for making my friday 🙂
Also, I just had to contribute to the surfing gifs. Enjoy.
Thank you so much @Saltwaterdreamtime! I've learnt a lot, and I'll for sure be passing on some knowledge with people I know. 
Thanks all. Have a wonderful night!
9. What has been the most helpful support you received in terms of your mental health?
Ooh. Apart from the kick up the bum from my mentors.... jokes. It was more than just that.
The most helpful for me was the less formal support. Don’t get me wrong, I have seen lots of mental health professionals and they have helped. But the most helpful was having somebody that literally and figuratively wrapped their arms around me and took me in despite all my flaws and despite how much I was struggling. And saw it through with me. They stood by me the ENTIRE time. They encouraged me to get that formal support and then still stuck by me, even through my hardest times, and when I was at my worst I could be awful. I wouldn’t want to be around somebody who behaved that way, but they still stood next to me. But the relationship didn’t change. I think that was critical. They were a support, but still a friend, mentor, etc.
When you’re supporting somebody, don’t forget what bought you together in the first place, you are mates/friends/family, your relationship doesn’t have to focus on you helping them all the time. Go back to being just a friend, go out and kick the footy together or go for a walk, it doesn’t have to be centred around their mental health.
having the opportunity to volunteer mentor others was big for me too, I was a part of program a couple of years ago where I supported young people in the same way i mentioned above
how the turn tables... 😂
That's so true @Saltwaterdreamtime. Often when you're caring for someone, it can be easy for the relationship to turn into more of a patient-carer relationship rather than the relationship you had with them before. It's important to do fun things with them too. 🙂
