Ask a Pro Live: Navigating the Mental Health System October 2019

Hi @Hozzles,

I completely agree, there are so many complexities and I hope we can unpack some of these important issues at the live chat 🙂

I'd encourage you to submit some questions, it sounds like this is a topic you are very passionate about!

Tonight from 7:00pm-9:00pm, we will be interviewing a member of the ReachOut team with professional and lived experience of navigating the mental health system. Jess will be bringing her experiences of navigating the mental health system over the last decade for her mental wellbeing and the wellbeing of her loved ones. She will also be sharing her professional experience as a child and youth peer support worker and advocate.

Jess has held roles working in youth based mental health services over the last 8 years, working with public health and local primary health networks to improve pathways for young people accessing mental health care, and in representing the needs of young people to services and governments. 

Navigating the mental health system can be challenging, and we recognise that every person brings their own unique perspectives, feelings and experiences to this topic. We encourage you to share your thoughts on the questions tonight and help us hold a space for a large range of perspectives.

Tagging some users who might be interested in this Ask A pro discussion 🙂

@Hozzles @Anonymous @WheresMySquishy @not-an-otter @Maryhadalittlelamb @Tiny_leaf  

@Charlie22  @ApplesRoses @Blurryphaced @Bookworm2004 @drpenguin @DruidChild 

@Amy9@Animallover2003@ApplesRoses@Bananatime04@Bento@blossomfox@blueberry32@Cheeseburger@Claire-RO@Confused_fox@DC@drpenguin@DruidChild@Jane_Rose@jewels21@Just_nobody@katurian@Ladybug@lennycat2017@litgym@LizO1997@Lonelyboy17@Maryhadalittlelamb@Anonymous@MemphisBelle@Milkninja222@MisoBear@mspaceK@not-an-otter@Pasta@peacelovepizza@queenP@Saltwaterdreamtime@Sammyye@scared01@Secret_Pigeon@smileandwave@SomeoneNADJS@Tinkmatter@xXLexi_Lou122Xx

Oooh I can't believe I missed this! 

I just finished reading through the whole thread and, overall, it is a pretty important and powerful discussion! You're all such great leaders  Thanks so much for all the information and insights @Jess1-RO + @Bre-RO, and of course @WheresMySquishy @drpenguin and @ecla34! You're all so brave and insightful!

Hey @scared01 and @Hozzles 

Thanks so much for your feedback We're really glad that this was a valuable discussion for the community to have. 

During the discussion we touched on the power of getting involved in advocacy and activism. Joining advocacy groups, committees, advisory boards, movements or contributing to mental health services can be a way to: 

• Find a community: break social isolation, expand support network. 
• Empower yourself: use your lived experience to drive change and improve services, policies and initiatives that impact you. 
• Professional experience: These kinds of opportunities are also great to have on your resume and can even lead to a career path (if that's something you're interested in) 

So, as promised here is a list of services/groups/organisations you can get involved in and actions you can make to plant the seeds for a better mental health system! 

Oxfam have put together an amazing page on how to contact and write to your local MP, with tips on how to structure the letter etc. There's also information on how to write to an editor and address stigma in the media. If this is your thing, click here to read all about campaigning. 

Orygen partners with young people to ensure they remain at the forefront of mental health research, initiatives and policies. Youth participation opportunities can be found here. 

Mental Health Advocacy Service works with the community to ensure they know their rights as a mental health patient. They can be called for information and support. All information can be found on their website here. 

The Mighty is a website that gives people the chance to write and share their stories. There is also a list of other fun writing prompts and a community you can get involved with. You can submit your story here. 

One Door Mental Health support the community in a range of ways. You can submit an advocacy issue to their CEO to raise here.

Youth Action NSW empowers young people with easy to digest information/resources on how to navigate government and advocacy. If you want to find out more click here to find their website. 

if anyone has anything to add to this list please do! 

Looking forward to talking with you all soon!

Hey everyone! @Jess1-RO and I are really excited to be talking about such an important topic to so many of us. We're going live in five minutes so if you're joining us - we'll speak with you soon. 

Shout out to everyone online  @ecla34 @Bee @Hozzles @WheresMySquishy @Benn95 

If at all you find this conversation distressing or you feel like you need to talk to someone then it's time to get some help! You can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or use their webchat and email services found on their respective sites. The links can be found here. If you are new here then welcome! Have a quick peek at our community guidelines you can find them here!

Let's get straight into it and introduce our guest @Jess1-RO who will be sharing her experiences and expertise with us all. Our first question is:

What is your experience of navigating the mental health system?

What is your experience of navigating the mental health system?

I have both professional and lived experience of navigating the mental health system. My journey with mental health started when I was 12 years old. At the time my main supports were my family, and a school counsellor.

I really struggled to make sense of what was happening and really had no idea was services were available to help me. Over the course of three years, my health got worse and it became clear that I needed a lot more support than I was getting. My first stop was my GP who did a mental health care plan, and referred me to see a psychologist and psychiatrist.

Over the years I saw many different services, bouncing between the public and private sector, with my family really helping to navigate it with me. I found there were some gaps for me between accessing services, where I was waiting quite a while for support, or wasn’t getting the level of support I needed. Over the years I have become better at asking for what I need and learnt more about what I could access which gave me a strong sense of choice and empowerment!

So excited for this chat!

@Jess1-RO  I think it's great how you have used your lived experience to help and advocate for others.

When I hit 16, I decided that something needed to be done and I took those experiences of navigating the mental health system and went to work in the mental health sector in the hope that maybe I could change another young person’s experience so they didn’t experience the gaps that I did 

Over a decade I have seen the mental health system become much better at talking within itself, and more and more pathways to get the right support at the right time! There is still a long way to go, but now I can use my experience to help others navigate the mental health system, which is what led me to peer support and eventually to ReachOut! I hope that tonight I can share my experiences and understanding of the health system! And I encourage you to share yours 

Thank you so much for sharing that with us all @Jess1-RO  It's so inspiring to hear about how you've used your experience to help others. What I found really interesting about your response was how you've seen the mental health system change over time. Now that you've had personal and professional experience in this area what do you have to say about the following question: 

Are services trying to address the gaps in the health system?

Are services trying to address the gaps in the health system? 

Great question! I think first we need to acknowledge that there are gaps- particularly in the youth area. It can be a hard area to talk about, and I want to acknowledge all the mixed feelings that may be out there about navigating the mental health system 

I do believe that services are trying to address the gaps in the health system, and I think the focus on youth has become an increasing priority for services and governments, and the establishment of headspace in this last decade is a prime example! 

I also feel that services are really starting to understand that having lived experience voices in the room at all levels of decision making can have a big impact in identifying and filling gaps! Are we there yet? No, services are always improving and growing! But we are definitely in a stronger position now to share our stories to let services and governments know where the gaps are, and work towards solutions together 

I think you're spot on @Jess1-RO - there's always work to be done when it comes to improving access to services and treatment. The good news is that there are people like yourself, working so hard to create change. I think a lot of us agree that mental health awareness plays a pretty large role in paving a more understanding society and mental health system.

Which leads me to our next question - This next question comes from a member who is interested to hear about how they can overcome stigma to speak about how they are feeling and seek help.

What are your thoughts on mental health awareness and stigma? 

@Jess1-RO  I agree that headspace has helped a lot of young people since it started. In my area, I have seen a few other mental health clinics and spaces for young people pop up.

I also agree about the value of lived experience! I have been lucky enough to attend a few talks with people sharing their lived experience of a mental health issue and found them so informative.

@Jess1-RO I really like the way you phrased your response that even though there are so many gaps, things are getting better and people's voices are being given space to be heard 

Have you navigated the mental health system? And if you have found gaps, how did you manage to navigate around the gaps and find support?

I have had experiences with the mental health system several times through a mental health care plan, but i've got an unfortunate tendency to just stop therapy rather than looking for other services when things haven't been as helpful as I'd hoped. And i do regret that!

Something i've witnessed though with friends (and family) is that a lack of information has prevented them from going further than just seeing their GP and getting proper help. One of my closest friends was made aware last week of multiple services and rebates she was elligible for that she'd never even heard of, and she's been in the mental health system for years. It's mind boggling! 

Another huge gap I feel is the lack of proper mental health understanding in emergency services, such as the ER. I've taken a friend to the ER recently in a mental health crisis, and I'm still fuming. They were nice enough (thank goodness) but so so uninformed 😞 It broke my heart

@ecla34  I think the lack of information to do with mental health rebates can be so frustrating at times, especially when staff are also disorganised or not trained properly. Once, staff at my psychologist's lost my mental health care plan or didn't process it (or both), which resulted in me turning up only to have no way of paying for a session. As my psychologist had moved, it was a long way from my house too. That was a bad day.

@WheresMySquishy that's awful 😞 I can't imagine how frustrating that was! I hope they managed to work it out?

@Jess1-RO I agree that by talking about mental health, we increasingly normalise the discussion, and help people feel more comfortable and less afraid of asking for help Two things I wish we, as a society, said more, is that's it's okay not being okay, and that you don;t have to hit rock bottom before you get help! 

@ecla34  I think that mishap was mostly caused by a lack of communication and training between the people involved. It was a long time ago, but I think one of my family members ended up having to call the practice and sort it out. I can't really remember what happened after that, but it was all worked out in the end.

@Jess1-RO  Definitely! I think peer support and knowing other people with lived experience is so important.

Absolutely love those two wishes @ecla34 

"Two things I wish we, as a society, said more, is that's it's okay not being okay, and that you don;t have to hit rock bottom before you get help!"   Such important messages!