RECENTLY a young woman who has battled complex mental health issues her entire life stood tall when she received the highest honour one of Ipswich’s most respected schools can bestow on a member of the community.
St Mary’s College Mercy Medallion has only been handed out seven times and amongst its recipients has been Queensland Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk.
Hannah Hyatt who finished her schooling at the college in 2010 was invited to the stage to accept the medallion.
To assist in the valuable work she is carrying out in mental health advocacy today we are sharing her powerful acceptance speech.
Hannah Hyatt – “Thank you so much to Principal Paula Goodwin and the entire St Mary’s community for this incredible honour.
My work is in mental health, particularly in the lived experience space.
I currently work as a recovery mentor at Richmond Fellowship QLD, and I am also a Peer Ambassador for Sane Australia.
Over the last several years I’ve had the opportunity to work with other organisations such as Headspace and Reachout, present at conferences and events, and be involved in national mental health campaigns, as well as appear on the show “You Can’t Ask That” on the ABC.
I also have my own lived experience of severe and complex mental health conditions.
I struggled a lot as a teenager due to my poor mental health.
Not just because of the symptoms, but also the stigma.
After I finished high school, I made it my life’s work and mission to advocate for mental health.
I studied mental health, Peer Support, and human services, I learnt how to share my own story safely and effectively, and most importantly, I worked hard on my own recovery.
I started getting involved in mental health advocacy because I wanted to learn how to use my experiences to help others.
I thought that maybe I could help improve things in some way.
I didn’t realise that drawing on my lived experience would become my job, and I didn’t realise what it would eventually turn into or how public my story would become.
THE TOUGH TIMES
Being honoured by my former high school for my work in mental health after having such a hard time as a teenager due to my own mental health struggles is special and unexpected.
Mental health conditions are the most widely experienced chronic illnesses in Australia.
I think it would be hard to find someone who hasn’t been impacted by them, either directly or indirectly.
While we have come a long way in the de-stigmatisation of depression and anxiety, more complex mental health conditions are often still left out of the conversation.
I am all too aware of how highly stigmatised, misunderstood, and feared people living with these conditions are, and how low expectations of people like me continue to be.
However, after years of support, mental health care, and hard work, I’ve managed to start seeing myself as more than the illnesses I experience.
My purpose is to empower people like me who have been silenced for too long and encourage the rest of the community to be mental health advocates alongside us.
It’s not only our job to advocate for ourselves, we need our wider community standing with us too.
HELPING OTHERS
I’ve turned my negative experiences into a catalyst to begin helping others see through the thick fog that surrounds complex mental ill-health.
My job is to draw on my own lived experience to support others.
I know that if I can turn my life into one of passion, meaning and purpose, then I can help others get to that place too.
I also hope I can continue to help our society see people with complex mental health conditions in a more positive light.
We are your friends, family, and colleagues. We have hopes, dreams and goals.
We are just like everyone else. We just happen to have mental experiences that others don’t.
To help, you don’t need to have all the answers or know exactly what to say or do, but what does help is listening, learning, being kind, showing empathy, and having hope.
Complex mental ill-health does not discriminate and can develop in anyone, but it is not a death sentence, and when we have access to appropriate support and are embraced by our communities, we can and do live full lives, whether that’s working, creating art, studying, spending time with friends and family, volunteering, something else, or any combination.
MY FUTURE HOPES
What I hope is that someone like me receiving this award can be a stepping stone towards educating all young people on how to speak about mental health struggles and seek help for themselves and others safely, educating all teachers on how to effectively support students with mental health struggles, less shame, more openness and smashing the stigma, particularly around complex mental health conditions
Anyone who knew me as a teenager would know that I really needed all of those things… and I’m definitely not the only one, which is a main reason why I do what I do.
Advocacy, education, and listening to strong lived experience voices are the only way systems and services will improve, and people with complex mental health conditions will be treated with kindness, dignity, and respect.
SUPPORT:
If you or a friend is in need of support ring Lifeline on 13 1114
