Courtney Chapman says isolation is a red flag. Photo: Supplied.
Courtney Chapman’s childhood trauma has haunted her into adulthood, but a key part of exorcising these demons has been connecting with others and finding her voice.
A public servant and volunteer with Mental Illness Education ACT, she has been able to turn her pain into purpose by talking to others about her experience and helping them to understand theirs so they can seek the help they need.
Courtney has delivered education sessions to schools, workplaces, the police and community groups.
Before that, she was struggling on her own, facing the all too familiar shame and stigma of suffering a mental illness.
“I wasn’t exactly sure where to turn to, what support services were available for me and also just how to feel connected to the community,” Courtney says.
“MIEACT was an incredible outlet for me, where I could use my lived experience and mental health journey to help impact the lives of other people.
“It makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger than yourself, and I think that’s really important when you’re struggling.”
That isolation and lack of connection appear to have only gotten worse in recent years, with a new report from the University of Canberra, The changing wellbeing of Canberrans 2019 to 2024, finding loneliness has become more prevalent in the ACT.
This coincided with increased financial stress and reduced confidence in the future, causing more people to defer healthcare and avoid social events.
Mental Health Community Coalition ACT CEO Lisa Kelly says. At the same time, there has been progress with treatment and services for people with acute mental illness; however, more attention needs to be given to loneliness and its corrosive effects.
“Where we probably need to spend more time and more focus is on how we build community connection and cohesion and how we work together as a community to address the issue of loneliness and the impact loneliness has on people’s wellbeing and subsequently on their mental health,” she says.
Lisa says the pandemic fractured connections, and it’s been a struggle to rebuild them since, with online meetings not really measuring up.
“When was the last time you were on an online meeting and people were talking about, ‘Oh what you do on the weekend? How are you? What’s been going on in your life?'” she says.
“But we do that before meetings and after meetings when we’re in person.”
Her organisation is calling on people to make connections within whatever their sphere of influence may be, whether that be in government, community organisations or simply in their daily interactions.
She urged people to become joiners again to increase their social connections and to take action.
“We need to join and we need to initiate, we as a community need to build that cohesion and the community opportunities that we’re all looking for,” Lisa says.
“The more people in our village and the more people around us, the more people who might notice that we’re not going OK, who can provide some help and support, who make people feel like we’re sharing each other’s journey.”
Lisa says shame and stigma only reinforce isolation and make recovery harder to achieve.
Courtney says prolonged negative feelings and wanting to isolate are big warning signs.
She says education, like the work she is doing with MIEACT, is the key to overcoming stigma, shame and staying isolated.
“If I had someone like me come into a school when I was that age and talk to me about mental health, there is no way I would have waited so long to get support, because I thought something was inherently wrong with me,” Courtney says.
She believes the tide is turning on stigma, particularly in the workforce, where it has become more accepted to talk about burnout and seek help.
But both Lisa and Courtney say cost and workforce shortages remain big barriers to seeking help, as Medicare covers only so much, and the few psychologists and psychiatrists in the ACT are in high demand.
Courtney says therapy has helped her, but it can be a long and expensive game. She also focuses on lifestyle factors such as what she eats and how she exercises.
As part of Mental Health Week, MHCC ACT is highlighting the programs and services available to Canberrans. To learn more, visit MHCC ACT.
