A Members Story

I became ill in 2005 and I was in St. Patrick’s Hospital for a few months, I was diagnosed as having Clinical Depression. My family were surprised as they knew I had been going to see a counsellor, but they felt I was complaining a lot and I had also lost a lot of weight but I hadn’t told them how I was feeling. I had worked all the time and it was only when I went to my G.P. and told him I had been feeling suicidal for a few months that he sent me into St. Pat’s. I was really relieved to be there as I felt I couldn’t do anymore myself and I realised I needed professional help. I felt I was really well taken care of and was grateful to have such a good service available to me. I stayed well until 2007 and then I was in hospital for another few weeks . During the following few years I had a few major changes in my life and even though my family are very supportive of me they felt that I needed support outside the family as well. I had heard about Recovery when I was in hospital but I just went to it now and again and didn’t really take it too seriously. When my mood was good I wouldn’t go to it. I realised in 2011 that I needed to go regularly to the meetings, read the book and put the tools into practice. At first I decided to look after the tea and biscuits to give me an incentive to go. It soon became second nature to me and I began to look forward to meeting the people and sharing their experiences with me. It is lovely to meet people who are going or who have gone through similar experiences to me, there was no need to wear a mask I could be myself warts and all. It took me awhile to give an example as I am normally a quiet and reserved person but I got great support from the group leader and eventually I started to become average and to deal with the trivialities of life as average occurrences instead of a dire emergency. I have learnt that the no. 1 Rule is to make my mental health my priority because as Dr.Low says without good mental health all other efforts are frustrated. I think of Recovery in the following way: Before Recovery my mood went down quite a bit and I also got quite anxious about doing things myself and so I became quite isolated and my world became a lot smaller for myself. Now it’s like I’m in a race on a track, jumping over the steeples as they come and doing it at an even pace. Before it was like climbing a mountain but not seeing the summit or any light at the end of the tunnel.

Catherine, Rathgar Group