People Sharing our journeys on wellbeing and mental health

from VPELA Revue (October 2020)

Places Distinctive Areas & Landscapes: A question of value

Editor’s Note: In the wake of losing members to deaths in 2019 and 2020, VPELA member Cazz Redding tells her own story; to raise awareness and understanding. VPELA cares for its member and we would welcome members contributions on this topic in following issues.

I have a serious mental health illness called bipolar disorder. This affects your mood and is characterised by periods of mania or hypermania followed by periods of clinical depression. It can be managed with a combination of medication, therapy and lifestyle choices, but not cured.

When I am manic, I have enormous amounts of energy, elevated mood, I talk too fast and too much, I can be impulsive, delusional and indiscrete. I can go for days with only two or three hours sleep a night. There are other symptoms, but they are too embarrassing to talk about!

Clinical depression is much more familiar to most people. For me it manifests as lack of motivation, sadness, feelings of hopelessness and an excessive need for sleep. I can find it hard to see the purpose of life. Sometimes I experience overwhelming anxiety and panic attacks.

I was diagnosed fifteen years ago and that is when and why I started my own business. I realised I was unable to work in highly structured and political environments and stay well. The organisation I was working with at the time was unable to accommodate someone like me. I was completely devastated at having to resign from what was my dream job, but I had to. I knew if I stayed my life was at risk. I do not write this lightly.

I now specialise in policy drafting which provides flexibility and not too much pressure. I have been able to operate my business remotely which has allowed me to move to a much lower stress environment in North East Victoria. I have been very fortunate. I have been embraced by organisations like Planning Panels Victoria and the PIA PLANET Program which provide flexible work options, valuable mentorship and allow me to make a meaningful contribution to our industry. Almost all of my clients have been extremely supportive when I have needed to take a break.

My bipolar disorder it is managed very well, but I am conscious that statistically speaking I am most likely to die from suicide. This extremely confronting knowledge guides every single decision I make in my life (as a sole parent) in order to protect myself and my son.

I know it is hard for people to gauge when I am becoming unwell. I tend to appear to perform at my very best just as I am entering a state of unwellness. It is almost impossible for people to pick up when I am sick and most in need of help. This is not uncommon. I share this story to help people who have not experienced mental illness get some insight into what it means and how tricky it can be to both recognise and support someone who is mentally unwell.

I think organisational processes have improved since those dark days for me in 2005. The Covid-19 experience has shown us workplaces can actually be far more flexible and accommodating than perhaps it was thought they could be. And this approach, along with kindness and empathy, is exactly what people living with or experiencing mental illness, like every other type of illness, need to remain well and at their most productive.

Cazz Redding is the Principal of Redink Planning, a town planning consultancy specialising in strategy development and policy drafting based in Bright, Victoria. She has been planning since 1999 and has also been a sessional member of Planning Panels Victoria since 2009.