Introduce yourself here - lived experience

[Lhiver]

Good afternoon and welcome to our newest members @shifthappens92 and @Dandelion16

The Counselling Online forums are a space for you all to connect with others, share you stories and tactics and advice! You can introduce yourselves here in this thread, or start your own. Everyone here has their own lived experience, and this is a judgement free space!

If you have any questions or need some support you can use the @ symbol then type my name and I'll get a notification and can respond! I'll see you around the forums

[Lhiver]

Hello hello, good morning and welcome to our newest forum members!

@Jatz85 @Maddisonlovell @Dfromthearea @Sue Mac @User001 @Josh.d.s @ABCDE123 @tryingtobebetter @Sloop @Marko @J92022 @Ozinneed and @Dawn3195

These forums are a judgement free place for you to share you story and connect to others! It can be difficult to take that first step in opening up, if you're unsure of how to get started, you can simply write a little in this thread here about yourself and what bought you to the forums today!

I'll see you all around

[Lhiver]

Good morning I hope everyone is having a good Saturday! I wan to start off our morning by welcoming our newest member @Stormikay.xo

The Counselling Online community is a judgement free space for you to share your journey and connect with others. Everyone here has lived experience, and have come to share support and find advice and strategies for recovery!

You can share a little about yourself in this thread here, and I'll see you guys around the forums

[Lhiver]

Happy Tuesday and welcome to our new members @Charlie Jo , @thetimeisnow , @Naithan6 , @Saywhat22 and @lisa007

These forums are a space for you to share your journey and find support and advice. Everyone here has their own lived experince, so it is a judgement free space!

When you feel ready you can introduce yourself in this thread! If you have any questions feel free to tag myself or either of our peer workers @ScorpionPW and @PnorkelPW

[Lhiver]

Welcome to our newest members @Weepy and @Billie22

These forums are a space for you to share your journey with others who have lived experience! This is a judgement free place to share advice and support, and help each other with the ups and downs of this journey!

You can post a little about yourself in this thread here, maybe your goals and what bought you to the forums today. I'll see you around the forums

[Blue74]

Hello,

I’m Cas. I’m 30 this year and want to give up weed. I’ve been smoking on and off for 12 years. This is a pretty bad relapse. What is stopping me from quitting is not being able to cope. My parents were pretty neglectful so I don’t really feel like I have any self worth. I have 2 people in my life and they both smoke and drink.. The last couple years I’ve been unstable and the suicidal thoughts are getting worse. I’ve tried so many meds that don’t work and the medical system is nothing but traumatic. I know weed is bad for me and I need to stop but I think I’ll do something irreversible if I quit.

[Blue74]

Hello,

I’m Cas. I’m 30 this year and want to give up weed. I’ve been smoking on and off for 12 years. This is a pretty bad relapse. What is stopping me from quitting is not being able to cope. My parents were pretty neglectful so I don’t really feel like I have any self worth. I have 2 people in my life and they both smoke and drink.. The last couple years I’ve been unstable and the suicidal thoughts are getting worse. I’ve tried so many meds that don’t work and the medical system is nothing but traumatic. I know weed is bad for me and I need to stop but I think I’ll do something irreversible if I quit.

[Lhiver]

heya @Blue74 thank you for sharing your story and being so honest and open in this space. It shows a lot of strength.

It sounds like cannabis is having a pretty severe impact on your mental health right now. I'm sorry to hear that you have had such negative experiences with the mental health system, traumatic experiences really become a barrier between getting support, so again, it is really great you've reached out here. I was just wondering if this is the first time you've ever reached out for support specifically because of your cannabis use?

I just wanted to let you know I've sent you an email with some info in it.

I'm going to tag the peer workers here as well, @PnorkelPW and @ScorpionPW they are a really useful support and have a lot o knowledge about recovery and this journey.

[Blue74]

hello,

Thanks for replying so quickly. It doesn't feel like its having a major impact... not noticeable enough but I know it's unhealthy... it's a problem mostly because illegal and just general health niggles from smoking in general and a bit out of it. The real problem is when I'm sober I feel so lost and like I'm doing it for other peoples approval and not because I genuinely want to... other than health.

I've been in a few forums and gone to psychs etc but lied about my use cos shame I guess. And I didn't want to not be taken seriously but I think that backfired because if I'm using a substance to keep myself alive that's probably important to mention.

Like my personal email or like a forum email?

[Lhiver]

@Blue74 Ahhh I see, thank you for clarifying that! So your general drives to change are your health and then those external factors?

I'm certain that you are not the only one who hasn't shared their use with their mental health supports. The stigma and feelings or shame or concerns of not being taken seriously are a big factor for many people.

I guess a big thing at the moment is what strategies are you drawing on to support you right now?

The personal email that you use for your account

[Blue74]

It's certainly not bothering me enough to be like 'whoa stop' but I know I need to for sure. So yeah, external factors are a big one.

Yeah, I've been brushed off before like 'oh yure depressed and anxious cos weed. Just stop the you'll be ok' Lol no. friggen trauma is why I smoke and I'll probably hurt myself if I stop suddenly. I am trying to cut down and had some good success with that but then you know it's easy to have a few extra when you need to extinguish a dark tsunami of s***.

I just cry or try to journal or text a help service. Self-help is really not my forte. You need like self worth and meaning for that stuff. I need to go to a psych but I feel like I'm burning all my mental energy just existing, putting myself out there and being vulnerable with people is triggering. Telling my secret is triggering. I've been trying to get proper help unsuccessfully for like 8 years.

[Lhiver]

@Blue74 It sounds like you've put a lot of thought and reflected a lot on what has and hasn't helped you in the past and what you need at the moment.

Journaling is a really good strategy! Do you feel like getting everything down in writing helps? Self-help can be a tricky one. But it really can look like anything, and is different for anyone. I guess it's important to start off with what is important for you, and thinking about what makes you feel better an how you can work those things into your day to day life

How are you travelling today?

[PnorkelPW]

Hi @Charlie Jo @thetimeisnow @Naithan6 @Saywhat22 @Weepy @Billie22 and @lisa007 and welcome to the forums...........great first step in joining

If I can be of any assistance I'm more than happy to share my experiences of addiction, recovery and the sh*t that went along with it............the ups and downs, the good, bad and indifferent

No question is too personal..........I'm an open book...........just tag me in your post and I'll get it as a notification to respond

I hope you feel safe enough to share at some stage

[PnorkelPW]

Hi @Blue74 and thanks being so open and vulnerable with your sharing

I struggled with being honest about my substance use with psychs and docs and wasted a good couple of years telling them what I thought they wanted to hear. When I finally got honest I started to get the help I needed.

I find that a lot of the time when people think about stopping it's all or nothing but it takes time to really make the commitment to stop and it takes time to get the right supports in place. Most of the time people want to stop and they want to stop NOW!! But the thing is, as it appears in your case, that the substance is actually what's keeping them going and in taking it away it takes away the only thing that's helping. Sometimes things need to be done in a reverse way and you need to get your supports in place and then start making the moves to make changes to your substance use.

My experience of living in addiction and working with countless people in addiction is that you can take away the substance but the problems still exist...........and sometimes get worse. I'd encourage you to connect with a GP, AOD Counsellor and Psych. I know it seems like a lot but a good support network is paramount in changing your use patterns. I've learnt that as I worked on the issues that drove me to use then my urges subsided and it became easier to make the necessary changes. That's been the case for people I've met along the way.

I never tell anyone what to do............it's best you make up your own mind and make your own choices. A suggestion I'd make to you though is to be honest with your team and tell them you want to make change but you want to work on the things that are driving you to use first. As time rolls on you might find that you feel more ready to make the changes you've been thinking about. There's lots of ways to reach your goals, you just gotta start trying different things to find out what works best for you.

Like I said though, without honesty nothing will work. If you really want to make change............be honest with yourself and who you're working with.

If you have any questions, thoughts or anything else please feel free to tag me in your post so I get a notification and can respond when I'm online on Monday and Thursday nights between 8pm - 10pm.

I'd love to hear how things progress for you and what's working and what's not. Take it easy on yourself................change takes time

[Lhiver]

good morning and welcome to the Counselling Online Forums @Username969 , @Bjg , @Bear01 @Schukkas @Jen78 and @Cleanbandit

These forums are space for you to connect with others and find advice and support throughout your recovery journey!

If you have any questions you can tag myself or @PnorkelPW and @ScorpionPW