When I moved out to the area I was quite isolated as well. The women’s health centre softened that blow. I haven’t got any family, I’m a single woman with mental health issues and I’ve been unemployed for such a long time, you know, so it’s a cycle of isolation.

I’ve been institutionalised since I was 20, I’m 38 now. Being at the Leichhardt Women’s Health Centre I learnt techniques that really do help. They fill in the gap, the void, the isolating experience of having a mental illness and feeling vulnerable. The courses are empowering, even for women with mental illness. I’ve had acupuncture here, I find that terrific with my medication. I know that my medication is making me sluggish and once I’ve had acupuncture it gets rid of that sluggishness.... I’ve done meditation here which has helped so much with my way of living. I really lost myself, through having years and years of abuse as a child, I went crazy. These groups are so vital for women who have been abused because out there in institutions – such as a public hospital and community welfare – they don’t have alternative health, it’s this horrible cycle of coldness. I just think women deserve to know that there’s a different way, a smoother and sweeter way to get well. If I didn’t know about the women’s health centre and their beautiful treatments for women, I’d be suffering more out there in the community, unnecessarily. This fills the gap for me.

I’ve got schizophrenia, so with the biomedical model schizophrenia is a disease. You take a tablet and that’s it. But at the centre it’s like, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got schizophrenia, you can try to get well with schizophrenia and live with it! That’s what I’ve learnt from Leichhardt Women’s, that the schizophrenia is not all there is to me. This centre has been broad for the last 40 years. I feel like it’s an honour to be here with such respectful professionals. They really understand us. They know where we’re coming from, because yes we can become needy, but the courses prevent that with the self-help techniques. It’s like they’re saying, come on, have some respect for yourself and others.

I’m realising the importance of self-care as I get older. It’s essential to rediscover that after being mad. When I went mad I didn’t have any self-care. I didn’t brush my teeth, my hygiene was poor and I had no diet. I really believe that if it wasn’t for this centre and with my diagnosis and the prognosis of schizophrenia, I could’ve been in a nursing home years ago. I’ve seen the naturopath and she helps me with formulas of vitamin supplements, and remedies and she always asks me what I’m eating. I don’t get that from a GP outside of here.

When I first came here I was unwell and unbalanced... so the vision that I got of the place was, truly, this is another institution. But after participating and listening to the healers – like the acupuncturist and GPs – I thought, I’ve never had an hour session with a doctor, I’ve never had acupuncture for 45 minutes, I was shocked that the consultation was so long. It was lovely to be listened to and to have a doctor spend a good half hour or a good hour with you. You don’t get that elsewhere. I started to open up and trust the place.

The holistic criteria is certainly here. It’s not imaginary, it’s a real thing that helps women, especially on the lower economic scale. Holistic care is essential to survival. I would still be eating only cornflakes and full cream milk if it wasn’t for this centre. They don’t approach us in a patronising way. The person who trains them is doing a wonderful job. It’s someone who’s very aware of human beings, I think. This place has been a centre for me to learn and grow up, and get out of my victimisation stages, and even if I couldn’t come back to this centre tomorrow, I feel that I’ve learnt enough to sustain me forever.

I feel this centre is so broad, it’s beyond its time, beyond the years, beyond the decades. It’s very advanced. They really care. I really hope that they continue to think about expanding size-wise because there is a huge demand for these services and they’re doing the best they can with what they have, but I wish the government would help them branch out into other areas. I’d like to see more centres like this, in rural areas, in all areas. Women need them. I’m a survivor of abuse, how many other women are out there in the community that don’t have a centre like this to escape into? So I’d love to see more of these women’s community health centres.

It’s empowering once we get over the stage of victimization because victimization, I felt, could’ve killed me. I didn’t want the things that happened to me in my past to happen, but they did. Getting out of that situation was painful and without this centre I don’t think I’d be here.

“I feel this centre is so broad, it’s beyond its time, beyond the years, beyond the decades. It’s very advanced. They really care... there is a huge demand for these services... I’d like to see more centres like this, in rural areas, in all areas. Women need them.”