Tim | Milford
“My name’s Tim and I live in Milford, on the Shore. I’ll be brave now, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 13, about 35, 36 years ago now, and it was called manic depression then.
It still requires bravery and courage to talk about it, because there’s a big amount of discrimination, and that will always be the case. I mean, it’s great what people like John Kirwan have done with depression, because people can speak up about that now, but the biggies; Schizophrenia and manic depression bipolar disorder, you know, there are consequences to having those sorts of conditions, and so even if people can be able to talk about these things these days, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to have a job that you necessarily want to, you’re just not going to be able to because of the pressures and the stresses that are involved.
I qualified as a solicitor and worked for a law firm for a while but it’s a bit too much for that sort of thing, and you can understand that people in those sorts of industries wouldn’t want that. So it takes a lot of courage to talk about, but it’s probably important because despite things having been tricky in terms of work, I’ve still managed to get to nearly 50 now. And I’m married, a little child, but it takes courage to talk about that because then you know, mothers go past who you see at kindergarten – it’s sort of a bit tricky.
I grew up in Eastern Suburbs, the other side of Auckland; Remuera, Parnell, St Heliers, that sort of thing. I went to a private school at primary school, and then a public secondary school. So, I had a mixture of both worlds. So, I have fairly road values. I think education is really important and tolerance. I grew up with Anglican Christian values which we tend to share in New Zealand, which are pretty decent values, really.
I think it’s really important to be brave and talk about things and to share your story. It’s also really important that the person’s ready to share these things, and isn’t pressured into sharing them too early. That they have the support that they need if they do share these things. Because often, particularly younger, vulnerable people can share things, and then not have the support to back that up, and that can be a little bit dangerous for people. You’ve just got to be a little bit careful. I think it’s great to get people having a greater awareness of these sorts of issues, and people’s vulnerabilities as you say. I think also, though that the individuals who are sharing need to be looked after in that process, as well.”
