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Connect with people who understand what you are going through, seek advice and surround yourself with support. We're free, anonymous, and professionally moderated 24/7.

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Welcome and getting started

About Welcome and getting started
Welcome newcomers! Learn about the forums, introduce yourself, and ask questions.
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Ru-bee||Last message 4 months ago
Start Here: Forums How-To

Welcome to the forums!    We know that it can be tricky navigating a new space so we've put together some tips and tricks to help you navigate and connect here in the forums.   Starting with the guidelines: Community Guidelines help keep the forums space safe, respectful and anonymous. It can be really helpful when you are new to have a read through these so you know a bit more about how the forums work! Our forum also aims to showcase SANE's values of respect, innovation, celebration, responsibility, collaboration - you can read more about these here.   You can also find a list of Forums FAQs to help you find your way around.   How to post: Posting and navigating the forums - Created by members, for members! Creating your first thread Tips for communicating in online communities Staying anonymous and maintaining privacy Posting safely about suicide Posting safely about self-harm  Where to post: It can be helpful to know where to go after introducing yourself - each board has a theme so check out the area you think would suit your posts best! Our stories: A place to read the stories of people like you and share your own experience Social spaces: relax and unwind with Forum friends. Drop in for fun, or a friendly chat. Say good morning to the other members or share the experience of some of your favourite hobbies or interests here! Friends, families and carers: To connect, share and access support from peers.  Recovery Club: find coping strategies and self-care tips, or share your own, here. A place for setting goals, to celebrate and motivate, and to support ourselves and each other. All the things that help. Talking through trauma and PTSD: A place to share and explore coping strategies. Managing thoughts of suicide & self-harm: Access non-crisis support and support others. Managing relationships: Discuss and seek relationship advice whether it be family, friends, romantic and other types of relationships. Advocating for change: Advocate for better mental health care by joining SANE’s advocacy efforts. Share insights and suggest solutions for better mental health care. Events and Updates: check this space out for special Forums events such as webinars or peer group chats! Read past event discussions and see what’s coming soon. Useful resources: services, tools, new research, treatments, technologies, books, websites we have found interesting or helpful. Ask for resources or post useful ones you’ve found. Somethings not right: a place to share our struggles and talk about times when we are not coping, having a rough time or having challenges with diagnoses. Ask questions, ask for help, offer support, share your knowledge and experience. Employment, education and training: Discuss work, skills and learning. Share tips and resources. You can also check out the latest discussions from all boards here!  

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Daisydreamer||Last message 5 days ago
Welcome! Introduce yourself here 🙂

New here? Welcome to the SANE Forums! We are so happy you found us and have joined our wonderful community. There are lots of people here like you, who can understand what you might be going through and offer valuable peer support.     You may see members reaching out to share their stories, asking questions about mental health, looking for others who get it, seeking support and offering support. We hope you find this a supportive and welcoming space to be.    We want to get to know you, and introduce you to other members of the SANE Community.    To get started, you can simply post here by clicking "reply" to introduce yourself and a fun fact or two about you.    Or, you can introduce yourself to the community by starting a new discussion thread! How to do that you ask? Follow the below steps to create your first post.   Click back into the Welcome & Getting Started topic area Click the ‘New Discussion’ Button Type in a subject title Enter your post (there are some helpful tips on how you can introduce yourself below) Then click post! You may see our Peer Support Workers welcoming new members in this space, so please reach out if you have any questions, or if we can help you get started 🙂 We are always happy to help! To reach us, @moderator or email us at team@saneforums.org. We look forward to getting to chatting soon

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Daisydreamer||Last message about 3 years ago
Staying Anonymous and Maintaining Your Privacy in the SANE Forums

Hi there and welcome to the SANE Forums 🎉   Before you get started, here are a few things you need to know about staying anonymous and maintaining your privacy on the SANE Forums.   You can also find the points about anonymity and privacy outlined below in the SANE Forums Guidelines and FAQs.   Anonymity The SANE forums are anonymous to allow all of our members to safely share personal experiences without being identified by forum members, members of the public, and the people in your life.   The main way to stay anonymous online is choosing an anonymous username.   Staying Anonymous by picking an anonymous username Your forums username is how you will be referred to on the forums and is important for maintaining your anonymity. Your username will appear alongside all of your posts. Your posts may appear in search engines- this is why picking a unique username is so vital. What are the top things to remember when picking a forums username? Our anonymity guidelines highlight that a username should not contain: your name your addresses - postal or email your member names/usernames on other social media services (this includes any accounts such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Tik Tok, or other online communities) the name of your workplace, uni or school any other information by which you could be identified in real life What happens if I have already picked a username and it is not anonymous? If you are already using a username that isn’t anonymous, or you are concerned about your anonymity, you are welcome to contact the SANE team and we can change your username for you.   Send an email to team@saneforums.org and let us know what preferred username you would like to change your account to. Our Community Managers will make the change for you so you can continue on the forums with anonymity.   Be mindful of other’s anonymity too When sharing your story, be mindful of maintaining the anonymity of those in your life too by never posting real names or contact information.   This way we can maintain anonymity for all people; our Forum members, the people in our members’ lives, and the general public.   Privacy at SANE SANE takes privacy seriously, and we work within the bounds of our Privacy policy.   There are a few important things to note so you can make an informed decision about posting on the SANE Forums.   We are a public forum SANE Forums are viewable and searchable by the public. Every year we have of 1.4 million Australians looking for help and seeking support by reading the posts made to the SANE Forums.   As a public site, posts associated with your username may appear in search engine results. This is why picking an anonymous username is so important.   SANE Forum Partners SANE Australia partners with mental health organisations around the country to make the SANE Forums more accessible to a wider range of people in Australia. We do this by working with partners to host the SANE Forums on their website, making the forums visible to people who may be viewing our partners websites. We call this a syndication.   When members access SANE through one of our partners, they are still on the SANE Forums, managed by the SANE team. The syndication simply means that the SANE Forums are visible on other mental health websites, making it easier for those looking for support to find SANE. Chances are you may have found SANE through one of our partner’s websites.   Can I request for a post or a thread to be deleted? If you are concerned about a post or thread you have created, you can request it be deleted. For steps on how to do this, check out the Delete a post section of our guidelines   If you have any questions about anonymity or privacy, please feel welcome to reach out to the SANE team at team@saneforums.org. We are always happy to help!

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Lerch|Casual Contributor|Last message about 13 hours ago
Mental health help # NDIS

Hi I have cptsd to the extreme plus split personality etc    Trigger Warning: Abuse, Sexual Assault     Content/trigger warning (Highlight to read) All from extreme childhood abuse    All previous relationship I was abused last partner I had charged with five count's of sexual assaults    Now two Christmas ago I had a NDIS worker try and rape me I reported to NDIS the final outcome I can't get support she's still working since complaint dr has deleted over half my medication    All from extreme childhood abuse    All previous relationship I was abused last partner I had charged with five count's of sexual assaults    Now two Christmas ago I had a NDIS worker try and rape me I reported to NDIS the final outcome I can't get support she's still working since complaint dr has deleted over half my medication      Hospital refused to admit me for mental health told me that they don't except for mental health (crap)   No other surgery in town will touch me and one told me to back to my country    Any advice greatly appreciated  Regards Lerch@  

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Doldip15|Senior Contributor|Last message 7 days ago
Feeling alone

I haven’t been on here for a while as too overwhelming alone! Find it hard to express the reality of finding you’ve moved to a new city on the promise of your daughter helping only to find she stand and verbally abuses you for 1/2 hour straight! Her husband wants your home but will put a boxable on the property he purchases with the proceeds of your sale! Your sons family think your a strange old lady who can’t stand upright or walk without help so they have nothing to do with you and I was stupid enough to loan my car to my youngest daughter to move her possessions into storage because of DV only to never get it back, subsequently stolen, vandalised and written off! Is there anything worth looking forward to? The sun doesn’t even shine! Have progressive Lupus now and spend time wondering what time I have left anyway? No medical doctor has bothered explaining what this means in terms of what is happening to my body, mind, anything? Dr Google a little scary! Isolated at home as poor as the proverbial church mouse! Asking charities for help- you could say useless but I would say humiliating when the volunteer who brings a food voucher tells you your 5 years younger than she is, hold a garage sale and sell some of your possessions, and don’t ring us again for 3 months! Lifeline generously provided a food parcel which does not take  into account a special diet for someone who’s had 6 abdominal surgeries and is on a low fiber diet - against gov food regulations, so can eat 2 things in food hamper and my daughter took remainder! I simply fail to get help! No one helps with medication and the cost of mine has gone up to $250 a month! I feel like I’m drowning in poverty and isolation! Gave Grandson a home because he was homeless and know he was unmedicated and diagnosed Bipolar, did not take into account the fact that his girlfriend happily triggers his ASD meltdowns and psychosis at times causing unbelievable violent behaviour that made it necessary for me to call police to stop him harming her more than once! [edited by moderator] My home has been invaded by multiple police! I’m due in court again tomorrow! I am at a loss to know how to cope I’m so tired! At least I’ll get a free cup of tea! Any compensation? I doubt it? and I won’t even touch on the injustice and unfairness of homeless services! I’ve been trying to keep my daughter and family off streets and have basically lost all my money supporting them when support services dropped out! Main reason seemingly - she looks like a drug addict! Why - she has severe ADHD and a medical condition that causes muscle spasm, twitching, loss of muscle control, not to mention severe pain but of course why look beyond the obvious? You look like an addict, therefore you are an addict so we won’t deal with you. I can’t help financially any more so living on the street a very real risk? I’ll stop because I am making myself feel worse! I’ll find something creative to do before I fall asleep on the table top! cheers to all

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Aqualemonade|Contributor|Last message 5 days ago
AuDHD burnout, depression and anxiety

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