October 27, 2025 • 35 mins
Richard Anderson, born in Wellington and now residing on the Kapiti Coast, Anderson shared his experiences with schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, and anxiety, shedding light on the challenges and triumphs of living with mental illness.
Anderson first noticed signs of mental health struggles in his late teens, describing his initial experiences as "spiritual" before they evolved into psychosis. He recounted believing he was Jesus Christ and later an Egyptian god, which gave him a sense of purpose but eventually led to a difficult reality check. By 2007, after moving to Dunedin and then Christchurch, he faced isolation, workplace challenges, and a deteriorating mental state, culminating in suicidal ideation and a suicide attempt. Fortunately, he sought help and was connected with mental health professionals who provided support and understanding.
Returning to Wellington, Anderson began treatment with antipsychotic medication, regular psychiatric consultations, and community mental health services. He credits these interventions, along with connection and purpose, for helping him rebuild his life." Work, whether paid or unpaid, gives me purpose and gets me up in the morning," he said, emphasising the importance of staying engaged and connected.
A key part of Anderson’s recovery has been his involvement with Amigos, a Wellington-based peer support group founded by Jane Lowry. Amigos offers a variety of activity and café groups, including creative writing, mindfulness meditation, guitar, fishing, and movement classes. The organisation also hosts social events like barbecues and movie nights, fostering connection and community among its members. Anderson highlighted the importance of belonging to a supportive network, saying, "Just that connection is what you need."
Amigos has become a vital resource for many, with over 260 people participating in its activities in the past year. The group provides a safe space for individuals to explore hobbies, build relationships, and reintegrate into society. Anderson praised the welcoming and kind atmosphere created by the group’s leaders and members.
For those in the Wellington area seeking support, Amigos can be found online at their website, Amigos Peer Support New Zealand.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk SEDB. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Greetings and welcome. I'm Hamish Williams and you're listening to
the podcast version of The Nutters Club, a radio show
about mental health broadcast weekly on news Talk ZB. Each
week we have conversations with people about their experiences of
how they learn to live with their own mental health
and the hope that it might help you with your own.
(00:42):
The show is broadcast live on Sunday nights on Newstalk
s EDB right across New Zealand and around the world.
This week we were joined by Richard Anderson. Richard has
been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses, meaning that he needed
to develop a management strategy for schizophrenia, psychosis, depression and anxiety.
(01:05):
The reality of his perseverance in a cheatingness, though, has
created a life of purpose and meaning with his participation
in peer to peer support group Amigo's Central for his
ongoing mental well being. Let us know what you think,
as well as what you learn from our chat on
any of our social media platforms.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Just search for the Nutters Club endzet.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Let's get into this week's episode direct from the Capital
City here to the Queen City. Richard Anderson is our
guest tonight, Richard, good evening.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Oh thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Look, Richard, least just get to know a little bit
about yourself. Where were you born? Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
I was born in Wellington. I have lived in the
South Island and I now live on the Carpety Coast.
I'm a New Zealander with Scott's Irish and Dutch ancestry.
If you could see me on tall so I get Dutch.
That's where my Dutch type comes from my mother's side.
I have a three and a half year old daughter
(02:06):
called Hope that lives near me on the Carpety Coast,
which is really nice. And yeah that's me.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So tell us about where you grew up. Then, you
grew up in Wellington, Yeah, I did.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Like I grew up in the western suburb of KRORI
a really nice place to grow up, you know. I
was really into soccer or what we call football now,
also like playing and during the summer, like playing summer
cricket on the road and touch rugby league and because
on tour, bit of basketball as well, just shooting hopes,
(02:38):
you know, which was quite fun outside the garage, and
you know, like reading comics and skateboarding and just doing
a bunch of stuff. I mean, my parents encouraged us
three boys to in whatever creative field were in, whether
it was visual art, creative writing, or music. So I
was very lucky that our parents would just like do it,
(03:00):
you know, go and do it.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So it sounds like.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
You're a bit of an all rounder then, yeah, in
some ways I am. Some ways I am. These days,
my creative writing has pretty much this emails or to
do lists, sure, and a lot of reading. But yeah,
maybe I'll get back into it. I've started doing some
visual art again. You know those mindfulness books.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Oh that the giant coloring in books, which, yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
But the funny thing is I get bored of coloring
and through the lines, so I go all over the place,
which is defeats the purpose of mindfulness.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So look, you know, growing up with such supportive parents
and you know sort of a bit of what sounds
like a wide array of interest, what did you what
did you sort of make of your time at high school?
You know, were you interested in one particular field that
you have something to do?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I really loved like visual art.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I was really big into that, and like painting with
acrylic paint.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I could.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
I never got into oils maybe one day I will.
Water color was a disaster. I could never do that properly. Yeah,
it's Bobby into visual art a lot, Yeah, into visual
art a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So talk to me about your experiences through high school
then you know what, how did this love of art
shape you know what you wanted to do when you finished?
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Well, I only stayed till sixth form, which is year
twelve in today's language. I didn't want to go to
university after year thirteen, so I thought it's time to do,
you know, leave school and do my own things. So
I went to an art school in Wellington, just called
in the Locky Art School. And I did like a
(04:37):
life drawing class, I did like a Chinese brush painting
and calligraphy class, and I did a just a general
art class. And I did that for a while and
then I ran out of money, so I had to
go get a job. And my first job out of
art school, if you believe it or not, was a
daughtered or salesman. So if you can imagine a tall,
(05:00):
shy person turning up at your door trying to sell
you discount pizza cards or video easy video cards you
could pop. Get an idea of how successful I was
at that job. I didn't last very long. You can
make money as a daughter or salesman, but I wasn't
that person.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
So how long did it take you to figure out
that that was not you?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Poping two or three months and then it was like
I can't do this anymore.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So we're two from there.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I was a posty for two and a half three years,
just around my local suburb. It was really good to
catch you fit, you know, walking everywhere. I didn't have
a bike or a motorized scooter, but it made me
appreciate growing up in Cory, you know, like it's like
a valley and it's got hills and it's got you know.
(05:48):
It was nicknamed fog City because of all the you know,
up in the hills with all the mist. But I
enjoyed the walking. But after a while, I was like,
my mind kept on wandering, wanting to do something else.
So I tried something else.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
We did the mind wander.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
It's a very good question since we're on a mental
health radio show. Pretty much I have for the past
twenty five years on and I've had mental illness to stress.
So I've been diagnosed with all sorts of things. So
I've been diagnosed with schizophrenia, with psychosis, I've had bouts
(06:27):
of depression, I've had anxiety. Still do I've heard voices.
I still do hear a voice of God, but that's
more of a Christian thing. I'm a Christian person, and
I've also heard that, you know, voice hearing can be
a positive thing to it. It's not always a bad thing.
I've also come close to self harm but never went
(06:50):
through with it. I've had suicidal ideation and some suicide attempts,
but that's way in the past and I never want
to get that black again. So yeah, so I've been
diagnosed with a lot of different things. But as we're
saying to eat each other before it went on air,
(07:11):
I really want to change the narrative, you know, like,
let's not talk about diagnoses and clinical terms. Let's talk
about it in another way. But I haven't figured out
yet what to name those things that I've got.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
When did you first start experiencing something where you thought, oh,
it's different, and what was that like? And how did
you go about ever being able to talk to anybody
about it.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
To start for a stant, So.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
If you just want to tell us about some of
those first early memories of when you started to notice
that things were a bit different.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Yeah, so I was eighteen nineteen when things started to
go a bit weird. I sometimes call my schizophrenic experiences
spiritual experiences, Like there's something about me where there's a
tipping point where I have a say, a spiritual experience
(08:04):
and then it which is perfectly normal, and then it
tips into psychosis or schizophrenia. And I don't really know
why that happens, It's just the way it goes. But
initially it started off with.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Sort of.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Believe starting to believe that I was Jesus Christ, you know,
and believing I could heal people, which is quite a
big thing, you know. And then at one stage it
moved and in the next stage it moved into believing that,
you know, I was an Egyptian god from a previous life.
(08:45):
So the two quite extreme positions to have. But I mean,
I was interested in Egyptology anyway, and being a Christian
Jesus was part of my life. But for some weird reason,
it tipped from just being interested in it to suddenly
like I'm this person. But the weirdest thing about it
(09:07):
is I felt like my life was full of purpose
and meaning. You know, wandering around the streets of Wellington
thinking you're healing people does great things for your ego.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
But then on the flip side, when the reality comes,
you know, when you actually come out of the psychosis.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Talk to me about that, when all of a.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Sudden you find out and actually I ain't walking on
water and it turns out I'm still from Wellington, I'm
not from Egypt. When that actually comes down, you know
what's that experience like for you?
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Oh, it's really draining, and you question so much of
what happened. Because from eighteen nineteen up until about two
thousand and two, two thousand and three, I believe this stuff.
You know, that's a while to be in that sort
of spiritual, psychotic belief. And then all of a sudden
(10:07):
it was like, I've got to get a job, I've
got to talk to people outside my family. You know,
I've got to sign up for the dole for the
Winds benefit because I don't have any money. You know,
what do I do? You know, like I am I've
got to start all over again. So it was to
go from such highs to such lows or it was like,
(10:31):
oh my god, what am I going to do with
my life? You know, because it was like all that
like sort of purpose and meaning that those beliefs gave
me were now gone. And some people say that with
bipolar disorder or manic depression as it used to be called,
bipolar and schizophrenia can have similar types of diagnoses. I
(10:55):
don't have bipolar, but they definitely the highs and lows
around that experience is something that I had.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, Cole, when we talk about you know, schizophrenia and
psycho people might think that they know what it is,
but you know, can we actually just put some definitions
around understanding what's happening in a clinical sense?
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Yeah, So schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder, and
it's one of those things that is, you know, often misunderstood.
One of the reasons actually why it's misunderstood because the
word actually means split mind, but actually that doesn't bear
any resemblance to what the symptoms are actually like at all.
So people will talk about being schizophrenic if they're behaving
(11:38):
differently or you know, might feel that they're sort of
two different people. That's not what schizophrenia is at all. Right,
we talk about so that the most well known symptom
of schizophrenia is what people talk about a psychosis, which
some people talk about is voice hearing, might involve hallucinations,
but essentially it's experiences that aren't part of consensual reality,
(12:01):
and those are loosely termed.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
What we call the positive symptoms.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
So people will have experience of things that adding something
to their experience. So that might be hearing voices and
might be seeing things, it might be beliefs, and that's
the stuff that can kind of look quite energetic or
make people go out into the world and do things
act in some way.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
And then we talk.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
About negative symptoms, which are much more the sort of
the withdrawal looks much more like depression, but actually it's
often a disorganization of thinking and inability to kind of
get self motivated and work towards goals. And then there's
sort of the cognitive symptoms, which is often difficulties thinking
in a straight line. When people are in that state
that they actually can't string thoughts together or sort of
(12:46):
manage themselves in that way. So it's quite disabling, and
commonly what happens, at least in New Zealand is that
the primary treatment is kind of medication and kind of
case management, which is basically having a keyworker who looks
after you and make sure you're taking your meds. So
the crossover with bipolar is that there's another diagnosis sort
of in the middle. And we've talked about bipolar disorder
a lot on the show over the years, but there's
(13:08):
a diagnosis in the middle called schizo effective disorder, which
looks like a bit of a crossover between schizophrenia and
that it has sort of the psychosis and those positive
sympte elopments, but it's much more cyclical and mood based
like bipolar disorder. But you can already start to see
as I talk about this, that they're quite fuzzy categories.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Sure.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
That's one of the big criticisms of schizophrenia is it's
actually entirely possible to meet three people who all have
the diagnosis of schizophrenia who present completely differently and have
a different set of symptoms. So it's not a very
useful category these days, and often when people present will
talk about symptoms rather than a disorder. So we'll talk
about they might be hearing voices, or that they might
(13:49):
be struggling with their mood or with anxiety, because that
is much more useful when it comes to start thinking
about what treatment looks like.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Richard, you know you're talking about your experiences with psychosis
and schizophrenia.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
However, when was it that it started.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
To actually be an issue for you in terms of
like it was affecting you so negatively that you needed
to get some support from it, And what did that
look like?
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Yeah, well there was quite a gap between you know,
me having that come down and having to get a
job and talk to people outside the family. And two
thousand and seven I decided to move to Dunedin for
the first time. I never lived and I had never
left home before, and I just wanted to change the scene.
I wasn't going to be a student. I was just
(14:36):
going to have a change of scene. I couldn't find
a job for a long time in Dunedin and I
was spending a heck a lot of time on my own.
I was living in a one bedroom flat and I
started to go a bit mad, you know, like this,
not enough people contact, not enough connection with people, and
(14:56):
I couldn't find a job. So I thought, well, I've
got relatives in christ Church and it's a bigger city,
maybe more jobs. So I moved to christ Church after
several months in Dunedin, and I eventually got a job
in a Woolworth supermarket where I'd previously been working in
Wellington in the same field. And in two thousand and seven,
(15:19):
I was not sleeping properly. I was eating at the
wrong time because I was working night shift, so my
body was out of whack anyway, and I started to
have some problems with staff that I was working with,
and little by little, the believing that I was hearing
them talk about me, you know, hearing voices again they
(15:43):
may or may not have been. I wasn't always a
good boss, so you never know. But my life started
to go downhill. I also had a bad flatting situation
with a couple like that wasn't going very well either,
And again I wasn't really like Dunedin. I was spending
a lot of time on my own and not having connection.
(16:04):
Even though I had family, I didn't use enough of
those networks. I just sort of wanted to do my
own thing, and that can be a good thing, but
not for a long periods of time. And then pretty
much what happened is I started to get suicidal ideation.
You know, if that's how you say the word. English
(16:25):
is my first language, I can't speak it, but yeah,
I just started to ruminate on, you know, what people
may have been saying at work and what my flatmates
were saying. I believed I could hear through the wall,
you know, that type of thing, and I believe people
in the street could read my private thoughts with a
(16:46):
good bad ugly So I felt like I had no
privacy and everyone knew what I was thinking or doing.
And I just started to started to get more and
more suicidal thinking. And then that led to a suicide attempt.
And I was lucky that I called an ambulance before
it went any further, and I was taken to christ
(17:09):
Church Hospital and I was taken to the christ Church
Community Mental Health Team, and there I sat with a
psychiatrist who listened and seemed to not judge me. He
seemed to be what you want. And a psychiatrist someone
who just listens and actually believes you and sort of
(17:32):
understands where you're coming from. And then from there they
were going to put me in Hillmoorton Hospital, which doesn't
have a great reputation in New Zealand mental health circles,
but for some people it is good. But my parents
came down on the first available flight for Wellington and
they said to the psychiatrist, no, we want Richard to
(17:54):
be treated up in Wellington where he can be close
to Faro. So then back in Wellington, I ended up
having my first experience with the cat team, you know,
the crisis team, and that was really good, just talking
to people that listened to me, that understood where I
(18:14):
was coming from. And yeah, that's sort of where I
sort of started to realize that things weren't that great
for me.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
How did that feel, though, especially you know that first
person that you spoke to in christ Church, that psychiatrist
that you spoke with to actually suddenly be able to
share all of these experiences because right now, let's be fair,
up until the birth at this point and it all
just been going on and around your head, like you said,
the rumination and everything. It was all just you and
your own What was it like being able to actually
(18:45):
now not only share it, but have someone who understood.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
It felt like a weight off my shoulders, that I
could finally talk about what had been going on in
my head that I was too afraid to because you see,
my parents didn't have any idea this stuff was going
on for me, because when I rang home, I was
a box of birds and I was talking about how
work was going, was know what books I was reading,
(19:09):
you know, stuff like that. They had no idea what
was going.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
On for me. You're wearing the mask.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I was wearing the mask, and I think with someone
with mental illness to stress, mask wearing is quite important
because you know who would believe you, you know, and
I think that's very important. We all want to be
seen and understood, you know, and I think that's important
(19:35):
in a healthcare professional, and even a friend is important too.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So you ended up getting back up to back up
to Wellington cop of the Coast was it Copedy Coast?
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Just saying Wellington?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So you ended up getting back up to Wellington and
that's where your treatment began. But it was a couple
of times, you know tonight, where you've actually said to
us that you know, you kept realizing that that lack
of connection, you know, being too.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Much on your own, was playing a part.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
So we've got to take a break, but when we
come back, we'll talk more about actually how you started
addressing that and what that's ended up looking like for
you long to get you to where you are now.
So look, we'll continue our conversation here tonight with Richard
Anderson Max soon after the break. Hey, welcome back to
the show. We're here with our guest Richard Anderson. And Richard,
(20:20):
you were just talking about, you know, your parents stepping in,
you know, once you'd got yourself in front of some
medical support there in christ Church, and so you came
back to Wellington and so what did that look like
then when it was starting to actually put together some
sort of care plan or whatever it looked like when
you talked about cads.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
But what else? What else did you end up doing?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
So they got me on they decided with the medication
that I was given, which was a lanzapine. It's an
antipsychotic for if I know, if I remember what it is,
antipsychotic medication to help with the delusions and hallucinations and
hearing voices and anxiety. That was the reason they gave
(21:04):
it to me. But they also got they gave me
a psychotress to sort of monitor my medication and to
talk to me about once every three months, you know,
and I would stretch out to maybe once a bit
more than that. But my main treatment was a community
mental health nurse, so I used to turn up once
(21:24):
every fortnight and talk to this guy. It was a
male nurse, which helped quite a bit female nurses. Is
nothing wrong with him, but just having another guy to
talk to, you know, was really helpful.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Sure whatever makes you feel most comfortable, right.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So he was quite helpful, and I
don't know, like it took everything that was on my
shoulders and out in the open. And even though I
started to eventually looking back, start to realize maybe I
am a bit weird, you know with my thinking, he
(22:00):
didn't sort of say to me, well, you're sort of
nuts for life. It was sort of more like, this
is just a period of your life life, and we
can get the right support around you and you can live,
you know, a life of some sort.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
I know some people who are older than me and
the mental health community in Wellington, and they remember the
days where they were told, oh, you got this for life,
and your life is you know nothing, So I'm just
glad that when I had my first experiences or the
second experiences of mental illness and stress, I didn't have
(22:37):
those messages come from the professionals.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah, so, what has worked for you long term and
how have you been able to, you know, find this
consistency to have a mentally healthy life.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
It's a good question.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
For me, work's been very important, whether paid or unpaid.
It gives me purpose, It gets me up in the morning.
If it's volunteer work, it's giving back to the community.
But I have also worked in healthcare paid work and
that's been really great. To give back as well to
people is important to me. It's not for everyone. I
know that in the mental health peer community there is
(23:14):
a sizable group or anti medication, But for me, it
just is part of my wellness strategy is to take meds.
I have a relationship with my GP and my local
medical scene to nurse. I have access to counseling when
I need to. You know, I tend to dip in
and out of counseling rather than just having it all
(23:34):
the time. I think I get the most use out
of it when I dip in and out, because I
don't always want to talk about myself and I don't
always think I'm thinking the wrong things, you know. And
then I think Farno is important and extended Farno having
a spiritual life for Wador, you know, like to me,
(23:55):
it's Christianity, but it might be Buddhism for someone else
or Bahigh, you know, who knows. As long as it works,
you know.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
We're big fans of whatever works, do it.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Yeah, And creativity is quite important to me, like I
want to get back into writing and trying to draw mindfully.
But another thing that's important to me is connection and
in Wellington that I've been involved in when I first
started in healthcare. I've worked in health care for thirteen
(24:24):
and a half years, but the first seven of years
of that was volunteering in the mental health peer sector
in Wellington, doing things like creating and facilitating groups like
a creative writing group and a sort of like an
arts group where we combine creative writing with visual art
in the afternoon. And then I even tried like an
(24:45):
international leisure writing group for a while. It didn't work out,
but people got something out of it. And then afterwards
Jane Lowry, who founded the Migo's Peer support group. Either
back in twenty ten or twenty twelve, she started like
this coffee cafe group, and then she started taking all
(25:08):
these different groups that I've been involved with and other
people had done as well and bring it under Amigos
and Amigo. One thing that Amigos does really well is connection.
It provides people with a network. It gives people a
chance to sort of just be understood without having to
(25:31):
explain everything.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
So what as Amigo is. It's a peer to peer
support group.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Yeah. So we have like numerous activity groups and cafe groups.
So we have a phishing group, a guitar of course,
a guitar group, a creative writing group, of mindfulness meditation group,
and moving for Fun group.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
We have.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
A curry catch up group, and numerous cafe groups that
we have going. And we also have events where we
have like a summer barbecue, you know, or we might
go to a movie together, or we might do things
like some people have done a treo course, you know,
through Amigos and that's been really helpful to them. With
(26:18):
the peer support group, we do have people who are
trained in peer support, but it's mainly just listening to
people and connecting with people is what we offer as
probably the biggest thing. And I suppose since we do
all these activity groups, it gets people an opportunity to
try a new hobby or maybe pick up an old
one and just like and you can even use Amigos
(26:41):
as a way of staircasing yourself back into mainstream society.
You know. We have people, you know, from the age
of twenty one to ninety one turning up to our groups,
and over the past sort of like financial year, we
had about two hundred and sixty six people tune up
in total. You know, so it's going really well. And
(27:04):
Jane Lowry started something really awesome and I'm glad that
a part of it. And it's really cool that Steve
the administrator, and all the other people that are involved,
you know, the new faces are sticking their hands up
and leading groups and you know, giving it a go
and just being so welcoming and kind. And I often
(27:24):
find that, you know, just that connection is what you need.
I don't go to all the groups all the time,
sometimes only go to some of them, but that's part
of my wellness strategy, is to belong to the Amigos
community and just have that connection.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
And how do people find you, so you know, because
you exist there in Wellington exclusively, right, Yes, this is
a Wellington based thing. But if people are in the
Wellington area they're listening tonight, how can they get in
contact with Amigos.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
That's a very good question. I've got a brochure on
me so that we have a website, which is where
are we Amigos Peer Support New Zealand is where you
can find us on the Internet, and then we also
have on Facebook Amigo's Wellington page, so you can I'll
(28:15):
pass this to you guys as well.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
Yeah, I'll pop it on another sky Facebook page to
actually because I googled Amigos and apparently that's a Mexican restaurant.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Sods Amigos ever gone to Amigos.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
I've yet to see it happen, but you never know.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Well, I think that that's definitely got to be on
the got to be on the agenda. Just a couple
of text messages that I've got here. This one's from Sarah.
She says my husband had psychosis and now has up
and left, saying he wanted to eat at fancy restaurants
and travel to exotic locations. He still thinks people in
headphones are spies and has to keep telling himself it's
(28:50):
not real. And I think he's in for another episode,
emailed his doctor. But he presents well, what are the
warning signs?
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Well, if you're familiar with how the illness is presented
in the past for that person, that can be really helpful.
One of the challenges, and you know we took when
we talk about a serious mental illness. One of the
challenges is there's a tipping point for most people who
have these experiences where they go from knowing that something's
not going right for them to not knowing that lack
(29:19):
of insight, and so it can be really challenging when
people get into that space. And that's why we have
mechanisms in the mental health system to be able to
treat people compulsorily when they're ready to get to that point.
But we don't want to get to that point because
it's really really awful for everyone involved generally. So I mean,
I guess my first thing would be to express concern,
say I'm worried about you, just like anybody else if
(29:41):
they were struggling or if you had concerns. Because it's
also possible for people to experience symptoms and actually still
carry on in their life, so you know, we don't
have to jump to it being a full blown crisis
or needing a big intervention. But actually I think starting
a conversation is the best way to test the waters,
to be able to say, look, I'm concerned. This is
(30:02):
what I've noticed, and I guess in terms of the
big red flags, it'tween big schugule changes, eating, sleeping, waking,
hours working or not working in interruptions to life of
the big red flags that other people can normally notice.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
What do you reckon, Richard, anything that from your experience
that you'd want people to be aware of.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Just to add to what Kyle you said about personal
cares like washing, brushing your teeth, If that goes out
the windows, sometimes it's kind of like that's a sign.
It could be interests that get sparked. You know, maybe
you're like me who are interested in Egyptology or history,
(30:44):
and then for some weird reason, there's a flick in
the mind and suddenly you become that person that you're
reading about. I suppose I also agree with Kyle about
maybe going to your GP together and just talking about
your concerns and if for example, you think the GP
(31:04):
isn't listening to you because your husband, and this example
presents well, maybe get another GP, a secret opinion, you know,
if you can afford it, and just say, hey, I've
got some concerns, what do you think, and just be
there for the person. You don't necessarily always have to
(31:24):
talk about what's going on, but just make them aware
that hey, I can make you a cup of tea
and I can sit with you and you know, does
that make sense, Carl, Yeah, it.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Does, and that they're going along with is really important
with all of these things, whether it be a GP
or a counselor or whomever it might be, people don't
have to treat this path on their own. The family
members are willing to get alongside. That can be incredibly helpful.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Because I know that with amigos, we've sometimes had people
turn up with their support workers and that's been really
helpful to get them out and about and finding connection
that they wouldn't normally have. So I'm pretty certain that
support workers and you know, partners would be welcome and
(32:10):
other peer support groups just to make the transition easier
from the outside and to the inside.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Of a group.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, another question here, which is kind of on the
same vein, but it just says, here, what's the best
way to be a supportive friend to someone experiencing the
sorts of delusions described by Richard? Is it okay to
entertain their delusions? Could challenging their delusions cause harm?
Speaker 4 (32:38):
It's a very good question sometimes, I think Kyle touched
on it. Confronting people sometimes isn't always the best option
straight away. I think one of the things that I
learned about peer supporters worldview. Understanding someone's worldview is important,
(32:59):
but just because you understand it, it doesn't mean that
you agree with it. So just again, listening is a
huge part of peer support from my understanding, And you know,
some people might get to the point where naturally that
they realize they have gone off the deep end. You know,
sometimes people do have that insight. Does that answer the question?
Speaker 3 (33:23):
I think so.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
I don't think you need to be worried about sort
of reinforcing or making things worse by listening. In fact,
actually that can be really helpful to just ask curious questions,
to say, Okay, so what are you thinking about this?
And how long have you been thinking this? Because it
can be helpful to feel heard and understood, because often
it's still about that golden rule of actually listening to
(33:46):
the feelings and giving someone the experiencing experiencing being heard.
Excuse me, is helpful, no matter what I mean. Part
of the problem is, I think is maybe not so
much nurses, but doctors and psychiatrists only have so much
time to listen. Sure, and listening is such a big
(34:07):
part of what makes a pair support group worthwhile. So
sometimes you have to do a little bit of work
to find people who are prepared to listen longer than
say a GP fifteen minutes. You know, maybe you have
to go along with your partner or husband to a
(34:27):
psychologist or a counselor and just be there for the
first couple of sessions or the first one, and then
step away and let that person talk. You know, I
think that is worth nothing as well.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Some really good ideas there, guys, and actually really great
questions too from you, and so all the best with
your husband, actually you here, I hope that you know
you can find your way forward. And in terms of
how we can have these conversations, what I'm hearing from you,
guys is essentially, don't be afraid to have the conversation,
but make time to actually listen. Yeah. Yeah, that's it
(35:02):
for this episode of the Nutters Club. Thanks to Richard
Anderson for sharing his story with us. And if you're
interested in the peer to peer support group Amigos, you
can search for them online. They operate in the Wellington area.
If you like what you heard and think it might
help someone out there, then please share this episode on
your own channels or with family and friends. And if
(35:23):
you ever want to be part of the show, give
us a call or text. When we broadcast live on
News Talk SeeDB eleven pm Sunday nights, New Zealand Standard time.
Check out Newstalk zb dot co dot inz for local
frequencies or a link to the live stream. A big
thanks to New Zealand on air for their ongoing support
and making the show. Take care and always remember that
(35:46):
the world's a better place with you in it. Life
Well that isn't easy, it is, however, worth it.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
For more from Newstalk ZEDB, listen live on air or online,
and keep our shows with you wherever you go with
our podcasts on Ihartradio
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk SEDB. Follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Greetings and welcome. I'm Hamish Williams and you're listening to
the podcast version of The Nutters Club, a radio show
about mental health broadcast weekly on news Talk ZB. Each
week we have conversations with people about their experiences of
how they learn to live with their own mental health
and the hope that it might help you with your own.
(00:42):
The show is broadcast live on Sunday nights on Newstalk
s EDB right across New Zealand and around the world.
This week we were joined by Richard Anderson. Richard has
been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses, meaning that he needed
to develop a management strategy for schizophrenia, psychosis, depression and anxiety.
(01:05):
The reality of his perseverance in a cheatingness, though, has
created a life of purpose and meaning with his participation
in peer to peer support group Amigo's Central for his
ongoing mental well being. Let us know what you think,
as well as what you learn from our chat on
any of our social media platforms.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Just search for the Nutters Club endzet.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Let's get into this week's episode direct from the Capital
City here to the Queen City. Richard Anderson is our
guest tonight, Richard, good evening.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Oh thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Look, Richard, least just get to know a little bit
about yourself. Where were you born? Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
I was born in Wellington. I have lived in the
South Island and I now live on the Carpety Coast.
I'm a New Zealander with Scott's Irish and Dutch ancestry.
If you could see me on tall so I get Dutch.
That's where my Dutch type comes from my mother's side.
I have a three and a half year old daughter
(02:06):
called Hope that lives near me on the Carpety Coast,
which is really nice. And yeah that's me.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So tell us about where you grew up. Then, you
grew up in Wellington, Yeah, I did.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Like I grew up in the western suburb of KRORI
a really nice place to grow up, you know. I
was really into soccer or what we call football now,
also like playing and during the summer, like playing summer
cricket on the road and touch rugby league and because
on tour, bit of basketball as well, just shooting hopes,
(02:38):
you know, which was quite fun outside the garage, and
you know, like reading comics and skateboarding and just doing
a bunch of stuff. I mean, my parents encouraged us
three boys to in whatever creative field were in, whether
it was visual art, creative writing, or music. So I
was very lucky that our parents would just like do it,
(03:00):
you know, go and do it.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So it sounds like.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
You're a bit of an all rounder then, yeah, in
some ways I am. Some ways I am. These days,
my creative writing has pretty much this emails or to
do lists, sure, and a lot of reading. But yeah,
maybe I'll get back into it. I've started doing some
visual art again. You know those mindfulness books.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Oh that the giant coloring in books, which, yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
But the funny thing is I get bored of coloring
and through the lines, so I go all over the place,
which is defeats the purpose of mindfulness.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So look, you know, growing up with such supportive parents
and you know sort of a bit of what sounds
like a wide array of interest, what did you what
did you sort of make of your time at high school?
You know, were you interested in one particular field that
you have something to do?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I really loved like visual art.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I was really big into that, and like painting with
acrylic paint.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I could.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
I never got into oils maybe one day I will.
Water color was a disaster. I could never do that properly. Yeah,
it's Bobby into visual art a lot, Yeah, into visual
art a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So talk to me about your experiences through high school
then you know what, how did this love of art
shape you know what you wanted to do when you finished?
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Well, I only stayed till sixth form, which is year
twelve in today's language. I didn't want to go to
university after year thirteen, so I thought it's time to do,
you know, leave school and do my own things. So
I went to an art school in Wellington, just called
in the Locky Art School. And I did like a
(04:37):
life drawing class, I did like a Chinese brush painting
and calligraphy class, and I did a just a general
art class. And I did that for a while and
then I ran out of money, so I had to
go get a job. And my first job out of
art school, if you believe it or not, was a
daughtered or salesman. So if you can imagine a tall,
(05:00):
shy person turning up at your door trying to sell
you discount pizza cards or video easy video cards you
could pop. Get an idea of how successful I was
at that job. I didn't last very long. You can
make money as a daughter or salesman, but I wasn't
that person.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
So how long did it take you to figure out
that that was not you?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Poping two or three months and then it was like
I can't do this anymore.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So we're two from there.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I was a posty for two and a half three years,
just around my local suburb. It was really good to
catch you fit, you know, walking everywhere. I didn't have
a bike or a motorized scooter, but it made me
appreciate growing up in Cory, you know, like it's like
a valley and it's got hills and it's got you know.
(05:48):
It was nicknamed fog City because of all the you know,
up in the hills with all the mist. But I
enjoyed the walking. But after a while, I was like,
my mind kept on wandering, wanting to do something else.
So I tried something else.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
We did the mind wander.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
It's a very good question since we're on a mental
health radio show. Pretty much I have for the past
twenty five years on and I've had mental illness to stress.
So I've been diagnosed with all sorts of things. So
I've been diagnosed with schizophrenia, with psychosis, I've had bouts
(06:27):
of depression, I've had anxiety. Still do I've heard voices.
I still do hear a voice of God, but that's
more of a Christian thing. I'm a Christian person, and
I've also heard that, you know, voice hearing can be
a positive thing to it. It's not always a bad thing.
I've also come close to self harm but never went
(06:50):
through with it. I've had suicidal ideation and some suicide attempts,
but that's way in the past and I never want
to get that black again. So yeah, so I've been
diagnosed with a lot of different things. But as we're
saying to eat each other before it went on air,
(07:11):
I really want to change the narrative, you know, like,
let's not talk about diagnoses and clinical terms. Let's talk
about it in another way. But I haven't figured out
yet what to name those things that I've got.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
When did you first start experiencing something where you thought, oh,
it's different, and what was that like? And how did
you go about ever being able to talk to anybody
about it.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
To start for a stant, So.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
If you just want to tell us about some of
those first early memories of when you started to notice
that things were a bit different.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Yeah, so I was eighteen nineteen when things started to
go a bit weird. I sometimes call my schizophrenic experiences
spiritual experiences, Like there's something about me where there's a
tipping point where I have a say, a spiritual experience
(08:04):
and then it which is perfectly normal, and then it
tips into psychosis or schizophrenia. And I don't really know
why that happens, It's just the way it goes. But
initially it started off with.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Sort of.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Believe starting to believe that I was Jesus Christ, you know,
and believing I could heal people, which is quite a
big thing, you know. And then at one stage it
moved and in the next stage it moved into believing that,
you know, I was an Egyptian god from a previous life.
(08:45):
So the two quite extreme positions to have. But I mean,
I was interested in Egyptology anyway, and being a Christian
Jesus was part of my life. But for some weird reason,
it tipped from just being interested in it to suddenly
like I'm this person. But the weirdest thing about it
(09:07):
is I felt like my life was full of purpose
and meaning. You know, wandering around the streets of Wellington
thinking you're healing people does great things for your ego.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
But then on the flip side, when the reality comes,
you know, when you actually come out of the psychosis.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Talk to me about that, when all of a.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Sudden you find out and actually I ain't walking on
water and it turns out I'm still from Wellington, I'm
not from Egypt. When that actually comes down, you know
what's that experience like for you?
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Oh, it's really draining, and you question so much of
what happened. Because from eighteen nineteen up until about two
thousand and two, two thousand and three, I believe this stuff.
You know, that's a while to be in that sort
of spiritual, psychotic belief. And then all of a sudden
(10:07):
it was like, I've got to get a job, I've
got to talk to people outside my family. You know,
I've got to sign up for the dole for the
Winds benefit because I don't have any money. You know,
what do I do? You know, like I am I've
got to start all over again. So it was to
go from such highs to such lows or it was like,
(10:31):
oh my god, what am I going to do with
my life? You know, because it was like all that
like sort of purpose and meaning that those beliefs gave
me were now gone. And some people say that with
bipolar disorder or manic depression as it used to be called,
bipolar and schizophrenia can have similar types of diagnoses. I
(10:55):
don't have bipolar, but they definitely the highs and lows
around that experience is something that I had.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, Cole, when we talk about you know, schizophrenia and
psycho people might think that they know what it is,
but you know, can we actually just put some definitions
around understanding what's happening in a clinical sense?
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Yeah, So schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder, and
it's one of those things that is, you know, often misunderstood.
One of the reasons actually why it's misunderstood because the
word actually means split mind, but actually that doesn't bear
any resemblance to what the symptoms are actually like at all.
So people will talk about being schizophrenic if they're behaving
(11:38):
differently or you know, might feel that they're sort of
two different people. That's not what schizophrenia is at all. Right,
we talk about so that the most well known symptom
of schizophrenia is what people talk about a psychosis, which
some people talk about is voice hearing, might involve hallucinations,
but essentially it's experiences that aren't part of consensual reality,
(12:01):
and those are loosely termed.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
What we call the positive symptoms.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
So people will have experience of things that adding something
to their experience. So that might be hearing voices and
might be seeing things, it might be beliefs, and that's
the stuff that can kind of look quite energetic or
make people go out into the world and do things
act in some way.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
And then we talk.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
About negative symptoms, which are much more the sort of
the withdrawal looks much more like depression, but actually it's
often a disorganization of thinking and inability to kind of
get self motivated and work towards goals. And then there's
sort of the cognitive symptoms, which is often difficulties thinking
in a straight line. When people are in that state
that they actually can't string thoughts together or sort of
(12:46):
manage themselves in that way. So it's quite disabling, and
commonly what happens, at least in New Zealand is that
the primary treatment is kind of medication and kind of
case management, which is basically having a keyworker who looks
after you and make sure you're taking your meds. So
the crossover with bipolar is that there's another diagnosis sort
of in the middle. And we've talked about bipolar disorder
a lot on the show over the years, but there's
(13:08):
a diagnosis in the middle called schizo effective disorder, which
looks like a bit of a crossover between schizophrenia and
that it has sort of the psychosis and those positive
sympte elopments, but it's much more cyclical and mood based
like bipolar disorder. But you can already start to see
as I talk about this, that they're quite fuzzy categories.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Sure.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
That's one of the big criticisms of schizophrenia is it's
actually entirely possible to meet three people who all have
the diagnosis of schizophrenia who present completely differently and have
a different set of symptoms. So it's not a very
useful category these days, and often when people present will
talk about symptoms rather than a disorder. So we'll talk
about they might be hearing voices, or that they might
(13:49):
be struggling with their mood or with anxiety, because that
is much more useful when it comes to start thinking
about what treatment looks like.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Richard, you know you're talking about your experiences with psychosis
and schizophrenia.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
However, when was it that it started.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
To actually be an issue for you in terms of
like it was affecting you so negatively that you needed
to get some support from it, And what did that
look like?
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Yeah, well there was quite a gap between you know,
me having that come down and having to get a
job and talk to people outside the family. And two
thousand and seven I decided to move to Dunedin for
the first time. I never lived and I had never
left home before, and I just wanted to change the scene.
I wasn't going to be a student. I was just
(14:36):
going to have a change of scene. I couldn't find
a job for a long time in Dunedin and I
was spending a heck a lot of time on my own.
I was living in a one bedroom flat and I
started to go a bit mad, you know, like this,
not enough people contact, not enough connection with people, and
(14:56):
I couldn't find a job. So I thought, well, I've
got relatives in christ Church and it's a bigger city,
maybe more jobs. So I moved to christ Church after
several months in Dunedin, and I eventually got a job
in a Woolworth supermarket where I'd previously been working in
Wellington in the same field. And in two thousand and seven,
(15:19):
I was not sleeping properly. I was eating at the
wrong time because I was working night shift, so my
body was out of whack anyway, and I started to
have some problems with staff that I was working with,
and little by little, the believing that I was hearing
them talk about me, you know, hearing voices again they
(15:43):
may or may not have been. I wasn't always a
good boss, so you never know. But my life started
to go downhill. I also had a bad flatting situation
with a couple like that wasn't going very well either,
And again I wasn't really like Dunedin. I was spending
a lot of time on my own and not having connection.
(16:04):
Even though I had family, I didn't use enough of
those networks. I just sort of wanted to do my
own thing, and that can be a good thing, but
not for a long periods of time. And then pretty
much what happened is I started to get suicidal ideation.
You know, if that's how you say the word. English
(16:25):
is my first language, I can't speak it, but yeah,
I just started to ruminate on, you know, what people
may have been saying at work and what my flatmates
were saying. I believed I could hear through the wall,
you know, that type of thing, and I believe people
in the street could read my private thoughts with a
(16:46):
good bad ugly So I felt like I had no
privacy and everyone knew what I was thinking or doing.
And I just started to started to get more and
more suicidal thinking. And then that led to a suicide attempt.
And I was lucky that I called an ambulance before
it went any further, and I was taken to christ
(17:09):
Church Hospital and I was taken to the christ Church
Community Mental Health Team, and there I sat with a
psychiatrist who listened and seemed to not judge me. He
seemed to be what you want. And a psychiatrist someone
who just listens and actually believes you and sort of
(17:32):
understands where you're coming from. And then from there they
were going to put me in Hillmoorton Hospital, which doesn't
have a great reputation in New Zealand mental health circles,
but for some people it is good. But my parents
came down on the first available flight for Wellington and
they said to the psychiatrist, no, we want Richard to
(17:54):
be treated up in Wellington where he can be close
to Faro. So then back in Wellington, I ended up
having my first experience with the cat team, you know,
the crisis team, and that was really good, just talking
to people that listened to me, that understood where I
(18:14):
was coming from. And yeah, that's sort of where I
sort of started to realize that things weren't that great
for me.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
How did that feel, though, especially you know that first
person that you spoke to in christ Church, that psychiatrist
that you spoke with to actually suddenly be able to
share all of these experiences because right now, let's be fair,
up until the birth at this point and it all
just been going on and around your head, like you said,
the rumination and everything. It was all just you and
your own What was it like being able to actually
(18:45):
now not only share it, but have someone who understood.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
It felt like a weight off my shoulders, that I
could finally talk about what had been going on in
my head that I was too afraid to because you see,
my parents didn't have any idea this stuff was going
on for me, because when I rang home, I was
a box of birds and I was talking about how
work was going, was know what books I was reading,
(19:09):
you know, stuff like that. They had no idea what
was going.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
On for me. You're wearing the mask.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I was wearing the mask, and I think with someone
with mental illness to stress, mask wearing is quite important
because you know who would believe you, you know, and
I think that's very important. We all want to be
seen and understood, you know, and I think that's important
(19:35):
in a healthcare professional, and even a friend is important too.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So you ended up getting back up to back up
to Wellington cop of the Coast was it Copedy Coast?
Speaker 4 (19:45):
Just saying Wellington?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So you ended up getting back up to Wellington and
that's where your treatment began. But it was a couple
of times, you know tonight, where you've actually said to
us that you know, you kept realizing that that lack
of connection, you know, being too.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Much on your own, was playing a part.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
So we've got to take a break, but when we
come back, we'll talk more about actually how you started
addressing that and what that's ended up looking like for
you long to get you to where you are now.
So look, we'll continue our conversation here tonight with Richard
Anderson Max soon after the break. Hey, welcome back to
the show. We're here with our guest Richard Anderson. And Richard,
(20:20):
you were just talking about, you know, your parents stepping in,
you know, once you'd got yourself in front of some
medical support there in christ Church, and so you came
back to Wellington and so what did that look like
then when it was starting to actually put together some
sort of care plan or whatever it looked like when
you talked about cads.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
But what else? What else did you end up doing?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
So they got me on they decided with the medication
that I was given, which was a lanzapine. It's an
antipsychotic for if I know, if I remember what it is,
antipsychotic medication to help with the delusions and hallucinations and
hearing voices and anxiety. That was the reason they gave
(21:04):
it to me. But they also got they gave me
a psychotress to sort of monitor my medication and to
talk to me about once every three months, you know,
and I would stretch out to maybe once a bit
more than that. But my main treatment was a community
mental health nurse, so I used to turn up once
(21:24):
every fortnight and talk to this guy. It was a
male nurse, which helped quite a bit female nurses. Is
nothing wrong with him, but just having another guy to
talk to, you know, was really helpful.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Sure whatever makes you feel most comfortable, right.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So he was quite helpful, and I
don't know, like it took everything that was on my
shoulders and out in the open. And even though I
started to eventually looking back, start to realize maybe I
am a bit weird, you know with my thinking, he
(22:00):
didn't sort of say to me, well, you're sort of
nuts for life. It was sort of more like, this
is just a period of your life life, and we
can get the right support around you and you can live,
you know, a life of some sort.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
I know some people who are older than me and
the mental health community in Wellington, and they remember the
days where they were told, oh, you got this for life,
and your life is you know nothing, So I'm just
glad that when I had my first experiences or the
second experiences of mental illness and stress, I didn't have
(22:37):
those messages come from the professionals.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah, so, what has worked for you long term and
how have you been able to, you know, find this
consistency to have a mentally healthy life.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
It's a good question.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
For me, work's been very important, whether paid or unpaid.
It gives me purpose, It gets me up in the morning.
If it's volunteer work, it's giving back to the community.
But I have also worked in healthcare paid work and
that's been really great. To give back as well to
people is important to me. It's not for everyone. I
know that in the mental health peer community there is
(23:14):
a sizable group or anti medication, But for me, it
just is part of my wellness strategy is to take meds.
I have a relationship with my GP and my local
medical scene to nurse. I have access to counseling when
I need to. You know, I tend to dip in
and out of counseling rather than just having it all
(23:34):
the time. I think I get the most use out
of it when I dip in and out, because I
don't always want to talk about myself and I don't
always think I'm thinking the wrong things, you know. And
then I think Farno is important and extended Farno having
a spiritual life for Wador, you know, like to me,
(23:55):
it's Christianity, but it might be Buddhism for someone else
or Bahigh, you know, who knows. As long as it works,
you know.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
We're big fans of whatever works, do it.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Yeah, And creativity is quite important to me, like I
want to get back into writing and trying to draw mindfully.
But another thing that's important to me is connection and
in Wellington that I've been involved in when I first
started in healthcare. I've worked in health care for thirteen
(24:24):
and a half years, but the first seven of years
of that was volunteering in the mental health peer sector
in Wellington, doing things like creating and facilitating groups like
a creative writing group and a sort of like an
arts group where we combine creative writing with visual art
in the afternoon. And then I even tried like an
(24:45):
international leisure writing group for a while. It didn't work out,
but people got something out of it. And then afterwards
Jane Lowry, who founded the Migo's Peer support group. Either
back in twenty ten or twenty twelve, she started like
this coffee cafe group, and then she started taking all
(25:08):
these different groups that I've been involved with and other
people had done as well and bring it under Amigos
and Amigo. One thing that Amigos does really well is connection.
It provides people with a network. It gives people a
chance to sort of just be understood without having to
(25:31):
explain everything.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
So what as Amigo is. It's a peer to peer
support group.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Yeah. So we have like numerous activity groups and cafe groups.
So we have a phishing group, a guitar of course,
a guitar group, a creative writing group, of mindfulness meditation group,
and moving for Fun group.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
We have.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
A curry catch up group, and numerous cafe groups that
we have going. And we also have events where we
have like a summer barbecue, you know, or we might
go to a movie together, or we might do things
like some people have done a treo course, you know,
through Amigos and that's been really helpful to them. With
(26:18):
the peer support group, we do have people who are
trained in peer support, but it's mainly just listening to
people and connecting with people is what we offer as
probably the biggest thing. And I suppose since we do
all these activity groups, it gets people an opportunity to
try a new hobby or maybe pick up an old
one and just like and you can even use Amigos
(26:41):
as a way of staircasing yourself back into mainstream society.
You know. We have people, you know, from the age
of twenty one to ninety one turning up to our groups,
and over the past sort of like financial year, we
had about two hundred and sixty six people tune up
in total. You know, so it's going really well. And
(27:04):
Jane Lowry started something really awesome and I'm glad that
a part of it. And it's really cool that Steve
the administrator, and all the other people that are involved,
you know, the new faces are sticking their hands up
and leading groups and you know, giving it a go
and just being so welcoming and kind. And I often
(27:24):
find that, you know, just that connection is what you need.
I don't go to all the groups all the time,
sometimes only go to some of them, but that's part
of my wellness strategy, is to belong to the Amigos
community and just have that connection.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
And how do people find you, so you know, because
you exist there in Wellington exclusively, right, Yes, this is
a Wellington based thing. But if people are in the
Wellington area they're listening tonight, how can they get in
contact with Amigos.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
That's a very good question. I've got a brochure on
me so that we have a website, which is where
are we Amigos Peer Support New Zealand is where you
can find us on the Internet, and then we also
have on Facebook Amigo's Wellington page, so you can I'll
(28:15):
pass this to you guys as well.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
Yeah, I'll pop it on another sky Facebook page to
actually because I googled Amigos and apparently that's a Mexican restaurant.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Sods Amigos ever gone to Amigos.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
I've yet to see it happen, but you never know.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Well, I think that that's definitely got to be on
the got to be on the agenda. Just a couple
of text messages that I've got here. This one's from Sarah.
She says my husband had psychosis and now has up
and left, saying he wanted to eat at fancy restaurants
and travel to exotic locations. He still thinks people in
headphones are spies and has to keep telling himself it's
(28:50):
not real. And I think he's in for another episode,
emailed his doctor. But he presents well, what are the
warning signs?
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Well, if you're familiar with how the illness is presented
in the past for that person, that can be really helpful.
One of the challenges, and you know we took when
we talk about a serious mental illness. One of the
challenges is there's a tipping point for most people who
have these experiences where they go from knowing that something's
not going right for them to not knowing that lack
(29:19):
of insight, and so it can be really challenging when
people get into that space. And that's why we have
mechanisms in the mental health system to be able to
treat people compulsorily when they're ready to get to that point.
But we don't want to get to that point because
it's really really awful for everyone involved generally. So I mean,
I guess my first thing would be to express concern,
say I'm worried about you, just like anybody else if
(29:41):
they were struggling or if you had concerns. Because it's
also possible for people to experience symptoms and actually still
carry on in their life, so you know, we don't
have to jump to it being a full blown crisis
or needing a big intervention. But actually I think starting
a conversation is the best way to test the waters,
to be able to say, look, I'm concerned. This is
(30:02):
what I've noticed, and I guess in terms of the
big red flags, it'tween big schugule changes, eating, sleeping, waking,
hours working or not working in interruptions to life of
the big red flags that other people can normally notice.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
What do you reckon, Richard, anything that from your experience
that you'd want people to be aware of.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Just to add to what Kyle you said about personal
cares like washing, brushing your teeth, If that goes out
the windows, sometimes it's kind of like that's a sign.
It could be interests that get sparked. You know, maybe
you're like me who are interested in Egyptology or history,
(30:44):
and then for some weird reason, there's a flick in
the mind and suddenly you become that person that you're
reading about. I suppose I also agree with Kyle about
maybe going to your GP together and just talking about
your concerns and if for example, you think the GP
(31:04):
isn't listening to you because your husband, and this example
presents well, maybe get another GP, a secret opinion, you know,
if you can afford it, and just say, hey, I've
got some concerns, what do you think, and just be
there for the person. You don't necessarily always have to
(31:24):
talk about what's going on, but just make them aware
that hey, I can make you a cup of tea
and I can sit with you and you know, does
that make sense, Carl, Yeah, it.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Does, and that they're going along with is really important
with all of these things, whether it be a GP
or a counselor or whomever it might be, people don't
have to treat this path on their own. The family
members are willing to get alongside. That can be incredibly helpful.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Because I know that with amigos, we've sometimes had people
turn up with their support workers and that's been really
helpful to get them out and about and finding connection
that they wouldn't normally have. So I'm pretty certain that
support workers and you know, partners would be welcome and
(32:10):
other peer support groups just to make the transition easier
from the outside and to the inside.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Of a group.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, another question here, which is kind of on the
same vein, but it just says, here, what's the best
way to be a supportive friend to someone experiencing the
sorts of delusions described by Richard? Is it okay to
entertain their delusions? Could challenging their delusions cause harm?
Speaker 4 (32:38):
It's a very good question sometimes, I think Kyle touched
on it. Confronting people sometimes isn't always the best option
straight away. I think one of the things that I
learned about peer supporters worldview. Understanding someone's worldview is important,
(32:59):
but just because you understand it, it doesn't mean that
you agree with it. So just again, listening is a
huge part of peer support from my understanding, And you know,
some people might get to the point where naturally that
they realize they have gone off the deep end. You know,
sometimes people do have that insight. Does that answer the question?
Speaker 3 (33:23):
I think so.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
I don't think you need to be worried about sort
of reinforcing or making things worse by listening. In fact,
actually that can be really helpful to just ask curious questions,
to say, Okay, so what are you thinking about this?
And how long have you been thinking this? Because it
can be helpful to feel heard and understood, because often
it's still about that golden rule of actually listening to
(33:46):
the feelings and giving someone the experiencing experiencing being heard.
Excuse me, is helpful, no matter what I mean. Part
of the problem is, I think is maybe not so
much nurses, but doctors and psychiatrists only have so much
time to listen. Sure, and listening is such a big
(34:07):
part of what makes a pair support group worthwhile. So
sometimes you have to do a little bit of work
to find people who are prepared to listen longer than
say a GP fifteen minutes. You know, maybe you have
to go along with your partner or husband to a
(34:27):
psychologist or a counselor and just be there for the
first couple of sessions or the first one, and then
step away and let that person talk. You know, I
think that is worth nothing as well.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Some really good ideas there, guys, and actually really great
questions too from you, and so all the best with
your husband, actually you here, I hope that you know
you can find your way forward. And in terms of
how we can have these conversations, what I'm hearing from you,
guys is essentially, don't be afraid to have the conversation,
but make time to actually listen. Yeah. Yeah, that's it
(35:02):
for this episode of the Nutters Club. Thanks to Richard
Anderson for sharing his story with us. And if you're
interested in the peer to peer support group Amigos, you
can search for them online. They operate in the Wellington area.
If you like what you heard and think it might
help someone out there, then please share this episode on
your own channels or with family and friends. And if
(35:23):
you ever want to be part of the show, give
us a call or text. When we broadcast live on
News Talk SeeDB eleven pm Sunday nights, New Zealand Standard time.
Check out Newstalk zb dot co dot inz for local
frequencies or a link to the live stream. A big
thanks to New Zealand on air for their ongoing support
and making the show. Take care and always remember that
(35:46):
the world's a better place with you in it. Life
Well that isn't easy, it is, however, worth it.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
For more from Newstalk ZEDB, listen live on air or online,
and keep our shows with you wherever you go with
our podcasts on Ihartradio
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