Indigenous Voices

After 10 years in the mental health sector supporting patients, and being a patient himself,  Max Simensen believes there is a better way to approach treatment. 

Max speaks up against emotional suppression and discusses how people with mental health issues find a need to perform 'unwellness’ in order to access the treatment they need.

Over the last two years, Max has led NSW’s first operational SafeHaven - a drop-in service, offering an alternative to Emergency Departments for people in suicidal distress. SafeHaven is staffed by peer workers who have their own lived experience of suicidality.

https://www.seslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/safehaven

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

What happens to young people when religious dogma clashes with sexual identity? In many cultures, living outside of sexual norms can evoke guilt, shame and rejection. But, Mohammad Awad who runs the award-winning Muslim Peers Project, which supports young Muslims, says that religious identity and queer identity are not mutually exclusive - they can exist in harmony. 

An artist, writer and poet, Awad talks with Chris Jaeger about mental health consequences of marginalisation, advocating for acceptance, and creating a safe place where young Muslims can access culturally sensitive support.

The Muslim Peers Project 

The Muslim Peers Project is an initiative by Outloud to support young queer Muslims experiencing mental health distress. 

https://outloud.org.au/projects/muslim-peers-project/

https://www.instagram.com/muslim_peers_project

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

Leon Fernandes talks with Meg, a clinical psychologist who reveals how stigma and shame inhibit members of her profession from discussing and seeking treatment for their own mental health issues.

Meg’s perspective is shaped by having faced mental health trauma and the uncomfortable reactions exhibited when communicating her experiences to colleagues.

Leon, who has for a long time been in therapy with Meg, talks about the comfort that he feels from knowing that his therapist truly understands what it’s like to walk in his shoes.

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

In Part II of Big Feelings, Chris Jaeger introduces Natalie Toal - a ‘super feeler’ who is an advocate of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy for managing big feelings.

Natalie explains what is involved in the therapy, and outlines its benefits. Natalie relies on DBT herself and, as a peer worker in mental health, she is involved in helping others who are dealing with overwhelming feelings.

 Chris and Natalie also discuss the burden of stigma faced by people with big feelings and diagnoses of borderline personality disorders.

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

After 10 years in psychotherapy, Hannah Achelles has learned to navigate big feelings. In this interview with co-host Chris Jaeger, Hannah talks about befriending emotions to stop them from becoming overwhelming and developing into depression. For those who experience extreme emotions, managing those feelings can be a complex and lifelong journey.

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

Executive Producer of IAMF, Leon Fernandes has faced deep trauma because of failings in mental health care. While awaiting a psychiatric hospital bed, Leon spent 12 terrifying nights in an open ward shared with people experiencing drug-induced psychosis. 

In this episode Leon speaks candidly about his fears and suicidal thoughts. With presenter Chris Jaeger, he discusses failures of a system that is too often beset by ill-considered patient communication and inadequate funding.

As recipients of care, and as mental health peer support workers, Leon and Chris offer their unique perspectives from both sides of the fence. 

Leon’s motivation to bare his soul in a raw and challenging account of lived-experience is, he says, driven by a need to give voice to those who are silenced by fear, or lack the capacity to speak up for themselves. 

In Dr Sophie Isobel, Leon finds a like-minded advocate. A clinician and researcher, Dr Isobel looks into the shadows of mental health services, documenting harm that occurs in the course of psychiatric hospitalisation. She speaks with Leon about her findings and how the knowledge of iatrogenic harm can be applied to improve patient outcomes.

While the episode reveals flaws in the system, Leon and Chris are at pains to emphasise the exemplary care offered by compassionate health care workers and praise facilities that attain high standards while functioning under difficult financial constraints.

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

Loneliness affects one in three of us. It is a silent epidemic that can negatively impact  our mental and physical health. 

Producer/presenter Chris Jaeger talks about his experiences of loneliness, delving into the roles played by friendship, romantic connections, and loss.

Expert, Dr Michell Lim explains her mission to elevate awareness, and encourage actions, to address loneliness.

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

In this episode, we hear the stories of two people whose loved ones have died by suicide.

It’s heavy stuff, involving big emotions. As presenter Leon Fernandes says in the interview, “There are places where words can’t reach and that darkness [of suicide] is absolutely one of them.”

Jane talks about the loss of husband Jez, and how she continues to struggle to make sense of his suicide, with gusty honesty and deep compassion.

Gab’s experience happened at just 14 when her beloved brother took his life. Many years later, Gab would lose a second family member to suicide when her father chose to end his life.

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

Have you ever wondered what it's like to hear voices? In this mesmerising episode, Leon Fernandes is joined by Ruah Grace who talked about her life-long experience of hearing voices. A deeply spiritual character, Ruah recently departed this life after suffering a short illness. This episode is dedicated with love, to Ruah, her partner, family, and friends.

Ruah’s voices took on many guises from warm and loving, to sinister and deadly. 

A lived-experience advocate in mental health, Ruah reflected on her Māori-Irish heritage, childhood sexual abuse and psychiatric drug treatments. Ruah characterised her voices as ‘glorious intruders’ and explained their spiritual, cultural, and familial significance.

An Indigenous Māori, Ruah was connected by blood to the tribes of Ngati Awa, Te Arawa and Ngapuhi. A proud member of the rainbow community, Ruah described herself as, “..queer, transfemme, pan/demi romantic, relationship anarchist, writer, artist, musician and one of the mystical and beloved children of The Great Mother/The Divine Feminine.”

If you'd like some further support or information about hearing voices, there are a number of organisations and resources available to you.

The Hearing Voices Network is an international network of people who hear voices, see visions, or have or have other unusual perceptions, and their allies. They provide resources and information developed by and for voice hearers as well as for allies and professionals who many or may not  hear voices:  https://www.hearing-voices.org/tag/australia/

There are groups around Australia that are run by and for people who hear voices. These groups provide peer support, dealing with ways that people navigate hearing voices with or without medication.

Australian Hearing Voices Network Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AustHVN/

Intervoice (International Hearing Voices Projects) is a charity, registered in the UK, that aims to support the International Hearing Voices Movement by connecting people, sharing ideas, distributing information, highlighting innovative initiatives, encouraging high quality respectful research and promoting its values across the world.It contains a number of resources and links to groups in Australia
https://www.intervoiceonline.org/about-us#content

Doug Holmes, valued members of our IAMF! advisory group, is also Chairperson of Hearing Voices Network in NSW. He beautifully articulates his experiences of hearing voices here: https://wayahead.org.au/hearing-voices-doug-holmes/

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website

How comfortable are you in talking about sex and suicide? No matter what, we each have a close relationship with and strong opinions about sex and suicide. Talking candidly about them can be difficult – with each they can fill us with unease, bring up distressing memories, force us to sit with uncertainty and with fear.

*This episode has a significant focus on suicide. If you need to talk to someone, please visit the Mindframe website where you will find a list of contacts.

Guests:

On the final episode for season one, we chat with Stella Anna Sonnenbaum MPH CSSE, a Somatic Sexologist and Certified Somatic Sex Educator with a busy practice in Central London, UK, and on Zoom. Originally a licensed pharmacist from Berlin, she initially took up Tantra training over 15 years ago when seeking help and advice about how to create more intimacy in the sexless relationship she was in. 

She founded her company, Stella with Love, in 2014, with the aim of helping couples and individuals to find more intimacy with each other, and added her certifications in 2015 and 2016 to gain professional expertise in helping clients address and overcome sexual issues, in person, and online. She feels she has found her love and vocation, and gives workshops, lectures and presentations in order to make this very effective body-based approach better known, and to enable people to find more love and pleasure in their lives and relationships. 

Following Stella’s interview, Caz speaks sex with Club Mind participants, Steffi and Dave about all things intimacy and sex.

Lastly, we hear the first episode of Leon’s new podcast, The Suicide Chronicles.

IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW.

Content warning -
Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge that this content may be difficult and we encourage listeners to take care of their safety and well-being.

Help is available -
Lifeline - call 13 11 14
Suicide Callback Service - call 1300 659 467 / suicidecallbackservice.org.au

IAMF! Facebook / Instagram / Website