What R4R means to me

An anonymous guest article

Welcome to the second edition of Guest Articles, where we continue to be community-led by handing the reins of the Rag over to someone from our community and where they’ll write about a topic of their choosing. The only requirement is that it strengthens our community or helps us achieve our goal of making Canberra suicide-free.

This week, we’ve got an anonymous writer, and we encourage it. Whether you put your name to it or not, we want to hear your perspective.

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What R4R means to me

Anonymous writer

You know the saying… good policy starts at home… well by no means is my home well-governed (haha) but I do try and live by taking personal accountability for the things that matter to me first before relying on anyone or any organisation to solve my problems.

And I think that’s one of the things that really resonated with me about R4R - that it’s not about giving money or lobbying to the government for change or showcasing how fit I am through competitions.

It’s simply about a community of people who know that life is going to have highs and lows and people will need ways and time to work through that. I like the fact that it’s consistent in its message and doesn't try and overcomplicate what is a major problem.

And that’s just it, we really are in a mental health crisis, that generations before us have not seen, People are grappling with the complexity of knowing more about mental health problems but no one can keep up.

I don’t see R4R as solely the mechanism to making Canberra suicide-free, R4R is about having a community of people who care about others. It’s about just rocking up and going for a jog or walk around the lake, in the hope that you will make someone feel good about themselves either directly or indirectly. By more people trying to take accountability for their overall health, it frees up the resources for the extreme cases who need serious medical attention.

As someone who suffered severely from depression many years ago, I do not think that had I rocked up to a run it would have solved my problems, by the time I realised  I was suffering I needed access to professional care but gee whiz knowing now that I can and see 200 plus people all rocking up and having a nice time with the aim of making Canberra suicide free - it warms my heart to know how important it is to individuals of all shapes, backgrounds, and ages, etc. to solve this problem.

When you first read Matt’s story, your heart stops… suicide is a taboo subject because it really is the most tragic way for someone to leave this world. Every time I rock up to R4R I have a brief moment where I think about how hard it would be to lose someone you love to suicide but then I look around and I see the joy that the R4R community has - its relaxed, not overt in its message, it means something different to everyone… one girl told me once she only comes for the free drink afterward and thats okay because she was a joy to be around… R4R means different things for different people and that’s also what I like about it. The mental health crisis is a problem but the more individuals take responsibility and less we make it a government problem… I think we will see the improvement everyone wants.

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You know something we don’t, your message will resonate with someone we can’t, and your article will set an example for others to follow. Over time, articles from our community will strengthen our connection, build our mental health IQ, and better equip our community to pursue our goal. So, please… If you’d like to write a guest article, please click on the link below… and if you think you’re opinion isn’t worth hearing… with all due respect… you’re wrong.