Category: Mental health
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It’s ok me, I got this
The single most powerful and liberating psychological practice I have ever done is reintroduce myself to my inner child, and show him who I am now. Yes, it sounds wanky and flowery but I truly don’t care. I gave this a crack and the positive change has been nothing short of AMAZING. ‘I want you…
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Honey, I’m home! (reconnecting with myself)
It’s been almost two years since I last wrote a column, and loads of cool and some difficult stuff has happened. I’m excited to be writing again and to share how I’m living as a heartful and hopeful human. Last year I came to realise that despite all of the work I’d been doing to…
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“I have hope now”: interviewing Sarah Lungu
Sarah Lungu shares her mental health struggles with JC Clapham Sitting down to a conversation with Sarah Lungu, one gets a sense she knows her delicacies very well, yet also wields a steely determination. Even on Zoom during Victoria’s most recent lockdown, Sarah’s resolve is evident – almost tangible. But as Sarah herself shares with…
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Lonely, I’m Mr Lonely
I’ve necessarily pushed people away over the past five years. Self-preservation was my goal, and the sense of being a broken burden that a major depressive feels only compounded that. But now I’m through the other side and experiencing some great joys, much optimism and kicking quite a few goals, I find myself with very…
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A love letter to inner-west Melbourne
This will be my final column as a full-time resident of the inner west. I’m moving further out west, beyond the fringes of Melbourne, to be nearer where my kids go to school and have their extra-curricular activities. The driving back and forth was fine and manageable, but with my eldest starting high school this…
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That’s 2020 COVID off
As the diary maker said to the printer, it’s been a year. And in many ways, 2020 has been as disappointing as that pun. But in others, it’s been a blessing. I suspect we’ll see a great deal of social media posts bidding good riddance to this year, on a much larger scale than the…
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Dear parents, please don’t choose to die…
*** Content warning: Suicidal themes *** Dear dad or mum to a child or children, Firstly, let me declare I’m one of you. I have children of my own and hopefully like you and yours, my kids are the best part of my life and I’d do anything – anything at all – to see…
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One day…
How often do we have an idea or a half-baked plan we think would be good, but tell ourselves we’ll get to it ‘one day’? If you’re like most people, quite a bloody lot. The world and society we knew as normal is changed, for a short time or longer, and it means most of…
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There’s a spotfire in my head, and our home is burning, too.
Nothing I write feels ‘worthy’ of the page or screen right now. How could it? Our country is burning and our ‘leaders’ credibility even more up in smoke.
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Looking forward, looking back. I’ve come a long way down the track
Five years is a brilliant achievement for a printed publication, these days. Let alone one that is community-focused and produced largely by volunteers. FIVE. YEARS! Let’s all pause for a moment (or five) to acknowledge that in a period of time when printed newspapers are thinning in both quantity and genuinely-local content, The Westsider is…