Anyone who has suffered or is suffering from mental health will know how debilitating it can be.  In Australia, between 2017 and 2018 one in five people suffered from a mental condition (20.1%) and just over 5 million people (10.4%) or one in 10 have experienced depression. (Australian Bureau of Statistics).  
 
These statistics have increased from three years prior by 2.6%. Essentially this means there was growth of people suffering from a mental illness by approximately 64,000 people in three years. And these are only the reported cases. I have spoken to people who have suffered extreme anxiety and depression but have never sought help.  Taking all figures and recent events into account, I can only imagine what the statistics for 2021 will bring!
 
It is common for people to focus on how important it is to look after your mental health and practice ‘self care’. Increasingly we are told what to do to prevent it and encouraged to seek help when feeling down. 
 
So, what is the reality of mental health?  In my personal experience, when people are suffering from depression or a mental illness, they often don’t always know they are.  I experienced post-natal depression after my first son was born and I refused to acknowledge it. I refused to be beaten and thought ‘How dare someone tell me I seem depressed!’. I’d just had a baby and was tired. And thought I was the strong one in the family – and certainly would not be broken by a newborn baby!

The reason I felt I had to be ‘strong’, and was not going to be ‘weak’ was because I had watched my own brother suffer from mental illness for many years. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in his early 20s and it was, and continues to be, a long road of ups and downs, even now at the age of 50. After years of watching his health decline, physically having to clean up after many suicide attempts and visits to mental hospitals, I was determined I was not going to suffer or be treated the same way by being labelled as mentally ill or ‘not able to cope.’  I have seen first hand the way my brother has been treated even by medical professionals, and it has saddened me. This is now what motivates and drives me to ensure that we, as a business and individuals, provide the best possible care and consistent support for our clients, as and whenever they need it. 
 
One of our philosophies at Pathways Support Services is that we care for each other.  That doesn’t just mean we care for our clients, that’s a given. The truth is: we genuinely care about each other and respect each other as fellow human beings before anything else.  

One of the most important things about how I like to operate and instil in my management team is for us to listen to our teams on the ground, look for signs of distress, look for signs of struggle. It may not mean that you can help, as no one can wave a magic wand and just fix things. However, what we can do is to be aware and there for each other when we are needed.  Just being available and checking in on each other can help so much.  
 
In service roles such as Disability Support Workers, there is a lot of working autonomously without other team members and sometimes in stressful environments.  A sense of isolation can correlate with increased vulnerability to mental decline. I like to encourage people to reach out as much as possible and, with my office team I believe we are doing that, and becoming increasingly available and there for our teams when they need us. Because that’s what it’s all about – true belonging, acceptance and being part of a caring team that can make a difference to each of our valuable lives. 

By Allison Rahman
Founder & Director, Pathways Support Services