Gabby's Story

Gabby manages her Autism, by having structure in her daily life. When Gabby experienced depression, she reached out for help and now supports others do the same.

I didn’t have any outside sources of help

I was just kind of left to manage on my own. When there’s unstructured support, for an individual with autism, that was when I started to feel a lot of depression, a lot of anxiety. No one was encouraging me, or telling me what the good parts were in my life. 


All sorts of things affect your mental health

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I was just sad all the time. Even in my room by myself, I was still sad

I would cry quite a lot. I got into self-harm. Depression was actually quite confusing because I didn’t know what was going on, and didn’t have a way to ask anyone, or communicate it. 


Depression or anxiety is different for everyone

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A friend from church helped me get support

I now get disability funded support from our government to help with all my personal care and cooking. It also helps when I can predict what’s going to happen. So, having all those routines and writing down exactly what I’m doing and when stuff is due,


There are things that can help you get through

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Having a structured routine is really good, it keeps the stress levels down

Having something to get up to do is one of the best parts for recovery. Exercise, the beach - I like swimming and all that sort of stuff, it just really helps. Nutrition is also very important to keeping everything in check and having that daily support is really good. 


There are changes you can make to stay well

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I've learnt that it’s okay to be different

Other people's stories

I created a safe space

I look for positive things

I take my medication and attend therapy

I got into Waka Ama