The Q&A Sessions: An Introduction

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Welcome to The Q&A Sessions: Your questions answered! If you have a topic you would like me to cover on the show, this is how to make it happen! Every week I'll select a question/topic to cover and give the best answers I can. Anything related to mental health, there is nothing that's off limits. This is another way in which I am hoping to fulfil my commitment to you in providing the most genuine, vulnerable and honest podcast on the whole internet!

To ask a question you can msg me on Instagram: @elliot.t.waters OR on Facebook via "The Dysregulated Podcast".

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Follow my journey through the chaos of mental illness and the hard-fought lessons learned along the way.
Lived experience is at the heart of this podcast — every episode told through my own lens, with raw honesty and zero filter.

This is a genuine and vulnerable account of how multiple psychological disorders have shaped my past and continue to influence my future.

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You can follow me on Instagram: @elliot.t.waters, and the show on Facebook!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:10):
G'day everybody.
My name is Elliot Waters andyou're listening to the
Dysregulator podcast.
As always, thank you for tuningin Alright time for a brand new
segment.
I don't know about you guys,but I'm very excited.
It's the Q&A sessions.
So you might be asking what isor what are the Q&A sessions?

(00:30):
Well, they are episodes where Ianswer your questions.
So the deal is, I need you guysto write in to me, whether that
be on Instagram, whether that beon Facebook or wherever else
you're connected with me throughthe show.
If you want to write in somequestions that you'd like me to

(00:51):
answer anything really about thevery broad topic of mental
health, send them in and I willdo my best to answer them to my
full capacity.
Now, it has to be said, I am aself-proclaimed lived experience
expert, especially for my ownlived experience.

(01:13):
I am a honours degree graduatein psychology.
I am a psychology researcher,advocate, speaker, but, most
importantly, I live with thisstuff every single day and
psychology and mental healthcertainly is one of my autistic

(01:35):
fixations.
So therefore, I do a lot ofreading and research on these
topics of reading and researchon these topics.
But so far the podcast has beenvery much about me, I guess,

(01:55):
pushing information onto you,the listener, whereas now I want
you guys to be pulling theinformation from me to you guys,
and the way to do that is forme to answer your questions,
which will be very, veryexciting Because, again, it
broadens the scope of the show,which is what I'm all about
trying to encompass as manyfacets and details of mental ill
health that I can so I caneducate as many people as

(02:18):
possible, Because a big part ofimproving mental health outcomes
in the community at large andI'm not saying my podcast is the
only way to do that, but I'dlike to think this is playing a
small little role but the bestway to do that is to have people
educated and knowledgeableabout mental ill health.

(02:39):
That way you, the listener, youthe educated person, can help
yourself if needed or help thosearound you where it's needed as
much as you can and come from afoundation of knowledge.
That's the key, because that'swhere it all begins, because, as
I've said before on the show,and I'll say it again, it's very
hard to come up againstsomething when you don't even

(03:01):
know what that something is.
So a big part of this podcastis demystifying, I suppose, what
these mental illnesses are andhow they present themselves and
offer ways in which to get helpas well.
So I'm not a doctor, I'm not aclinical psychologist, but I've
been through many of them andI've learned a thing or two

(03:22):
along the way.
And I have done my own formaland informal studies as well,
and I'm more than willing toanswer your questions.
They can be about anything.
Really, the scope of this is asbroad as you'd like it to be,
whether it be psychology itselfand therapies, whether it be

(03:43):
medications and other treatmentplans, whether it's mental
health theories or psychologicaltheories you name it.
Basically, I'll give it a crackand we'll see what we come up
with.
Also, there will be times, I'dsay, because I want to keep
these Q&A sessions reasonablysuccinct.
I suppose I want to get to thepoint, which isn't always

(04:04):
something I do very well, but Ido want to sort of get to the
point with my answers.
But there will be times whensome of these questions deserve
to be fleshed out a little bitmore in maybe their own
standalone episodes, and I'llsay that during the episodes on
the Q&A sessions, as it happens,because I've had a few

(04:27):
questions sent in already whichthemselves deserve a lot of time
devoted to them.
So really, the Q&A sessions ismore of a free-flowing.
You know, chuck a few questionsat me, I'll do.
You know, it's not about mesitting down doing a heap of
research.
I sort of want to answer thesequestions from the knowledge

(04:47):
point that I have at the moment.
By all means, I'll do a littlebit of background work don't get
me wrong but at the same time Iwant this to be more laid back,
you know, less formal and morejust having a bit of a
discussion around the differentpoints that you may feel is
important that maybe I haven'ttouched on or you would like me

(05:07):
to touch on again.
And if it is a topic thatdeserves a little bit more
investigation, by all means I'llgive it a go, answering as far
as my knowledge on the topicgoes at this point.
But then I will go back later,do some more research and then
produce a bigger episode whichis devoted to that question.

(05:29):
But I'll let you know if that'sgoing to happen during the Q&A
sessions episodes.
So, like I said, I want youknow this podcast has very much
been about me giving youinformation and driving the
information to you that I thinkis important.
But I want this show to be asengaging as possible, and I

(05:52):
think one way to do that is toactually canvas your opinions
and find out from you guys youknow who are the most important,
because you're the listenerswhat it is you would like me to
talk about, and it can be aboutme and my own lived experience.
For sure, if you've got morequestions about how I deal with

(06:12):
mental illness day to day,that's more than fair enough and
I'm more than happy to gothrough that as well.
There isn't really a topicthat's off topic.
You know what I mean.
It can be very loosely relatedto mental health, I don't care.
It's very much a case of, as weknow that, I'm an open book.
There's no real secrets here.

(06:33):
So if you've got questions forme personally but you're
wondering, oh, I wonder if thatgoes a little bit too deep Don't
worry, there's no such thing inmy book, unless, of course, it
implicates other people thenI've got to be careful.
But as far as it goes, when itgoes to me and myself personally

(06:53):
and my story, I'm more thanhappy to answer questions on
that as honestly and genuinelyas I can, because that's what
the show is all about.
I make the claim often thatthere is no podcast on the
internet that goes deeper intothe mental ill health or mental
health in general world thanthis one does, and I'm committed

(07:16):
to that, and in doing so, Ithink this episode series, the
Q&A sessions, will be a greatway to go even further into the
depths of this world and the coout.
You know you've got to dive,sometimes down into the places
you don't want to go, becausethat's where the answers are,

(07:36):
that's where the wisdom is, andI'm more than happy to take that
dive for you guys to see what Icome up with, and then we can
have a discussion about that aswell and see if we can demystify
like I said before, demystifymental health a little bit more
and in doing so, increase thatmental health literacy that is

(07:56):
so important for ourselves, butalso the people around us, that
we are going to obviously haveto help at some point with this,
because mental health is such abig issue in the community.
I haven't really met anyonethat's got away scot-free, so I
think this is stuff that's goingto be beneficial to a lot of
people.
Hopefully, and the excitingpart is, it's going to be driven

(08:18):
by you.
These are your questions.
They're not my questions.
These are your questions, yourtopics, the areas in which you
believe need to be investigatedfurther, and I'm going to do
that for you.
So there you go, the Q&Asessions, very excited to bring
you the first proper episodeshortly.

(08:40):
Upload a new episode weekly andI'm going to try and upload them
weekly on a Friday, australianEastern Standard Time.
That's the goal every Friday.
But of course, as is the casewith most things that I do,
unfortunately we have to becareful about my own mental

(09:01):
health and if I'm in a capacityto do those weekly episodes,
hopefully I'll be able to andI'm really going to devote
myself to being able to do thatevery Friday.
But, as we know, my mental illhealth is an evolving story and
there are weeks sometimes whereI'm incapable of doing just
about anything.

(09:21):
But I want to reiterate, it ismy solid plan that I am
committed to, which is trying toupload a new episode of the Q&A
sessions every week.
So please, please, get yourquestions in.
As I said, you can do so onFacebook or Instagram.
So on Instagram, atelliotttwaters facebook, by

(09:45):
searching for the dysregulatedpodcast, and you'll find the
page on there, and also you cansend a message through the
podcast itself.
So if you go into the biosection of each episode, there
is a link there that says sendme a message.
You are more than welcome tosend me a question in that
fashion as well.

(10:05):
So whatever way that you canget across to me the question
that you'd like answered, pleasesend it in.
I can't guarantee that it'll beanswered that week, that it's
been sent in, because theremight be a bit of a backlog or
maybe.
I do feel as though I need to doa little bit of background
information, a bit of researchinfo, to be able to answer the

(10:26):
question adequately, because Idon't want to half-ask these
things.
These questions are extremelyimportant so, as a result, I
want to do them justice.
And also, if the question issomething that requires maybe a
little bit more of an in-depthlook, I'm very much open to
doing a complete episode devotedto it, just to see if we can

(10:49):
get to the bottom of things andget some clarity around a topic,
which is mental health, thatoften doesn't have much clarity
about it at all.
But that's what we're going todo demystify these things, get
some clarity, build someeducation around it all.
It's going to be great for metoo, because I'm going to learn
a lot too.
So I'm very excited.

(11:09):
So please join me on the Q&Asessions.
Get your questions in EveryFriday.
The plan is I'm going to answera new set of questions and I'm
very excited because now thecontent isn't just being driven
by me and pushed onto you.
It is very much you guys askingfor the content that you would
like to hear, and then I'm goingto do my best to answer

(11:32):
adequately.
So very exciting stuff, allright.
Thank you for listeningeverybody.
I can't wait for the firstepisode of the Q&A sessions.
It's coming very soon.
So, as I said, you can followme on Instagram at
elliotttwaters, and you canfollow the show on Facebook at
the Dysregulated Podcast, andsend your questions in, and I'll

(11:56):
do my best to answer them in away that they deserve All right.
Thanks, everybody.
I'll talk to you soon.
See you later.
Goodbye.