Recluse to Community Participant: Exploring the Connection Between Community and Mental Health

Episode Transcript

Right now, you’re listening to Stories of Change on Yarra Valley FM 99.1.

Last episode, I’ve been talking about the connection between community and mental health.

I’m wanting to educate people on what this all means, because we hear about “community” and “mental health” all the time.

We hear about the challenges that people are experiencing in our community with mental health issues.

What does that mean, and what can we do about it?

That’s what I’m keen to tackle right now.

Recluse to Community Participant: The Challenges of Community Engagement

What happens when you’ve become a bit of a recluse? Or you’re shy? Or you’ve got some other limiting behaviour, thoughts, or feelings?

What if you are feeling some impact on your mental health?

What do you do about it?

I thought I might speak from my experience and training, as a professional coach, which I’ve been doing for many years now and talking with thousands literally thousands of people over the last almost a decade.

I’ve discovered in my training and experience, there are patterns in human behaviour.

Patterns In Human Behaviour

I find the study of human behaviour fascinating. With patterns, there comes, common sorts of challenges, that people have, and that we can commonly see.

When it comes to getting out there, and getting back out there into the community, especially if we’ve become used to being locked in, and have gone to more reclusive, introverted, ways, it can feel like a lot to start to get back out there, and start to connect again.

Positive Signs Amid Challenges

Even though we’re seeing lots of positive signs, that people are starting to get out and about a little bit more, I’ve noticed an increase in the streets of Healesville over the weekend. Lots of people coming through town, lots of people holidaying within Australia, rather than going overseas.

We’re still not completely getting out and about, back in the world again.

Recluse to Community Participant: Challenges of Reintegrating into the Community

We’re seeing this influx of people, we’re seeing people starting to get out and about again, which is wonderful.

What are some of the challenges that come with that? What are some of the things that come up for people, and even as I’m talking about it now, there’ll be ideas that you’ve got.

You might relate to some of these challenges to getting out and about again.

Recluse to Community Participant

Common Challenges of Reengagement: Time Constraints

The first challenge I’ve noticed when it comes to getting out and about and perhaps being involved in a community group, or getting along to an event, or anything really, a workshop, or even something simple, going down to the local cafe for a cuppa, these are some of the some of the reasons I hear commonly, the first one, and probably the major one is people say “I don’t have the time”

Can relate to that?

The time reason.

I want to pose a question to you; how do you describe your current schedule and your current time commitments?

Do you have the time to get out and start to engage in the community?

If you’re not already involved in the community, are you finding it hard to allocate some of that time for community type activities?

If so, why?

I understand many people lead busy lives. When it comes to working, and family responsibilities, and any personal commitments, like around their own self-care, like exercise or eating well – all these things take a wedge of time.

Finding time to actively participate in any community building activity can be a real challenge.

It’s a real challenge, to validate if you’re feeling that way.

You’re feeling under the pump in terms of time. I hear you.

It’s a real thing, and we need to address it.

Tips for Managing Time Challenges

And that’s the thing, all these challenges, the one thing to know about them, what we do to address them is what I’m really keen to impart to you today. My three top tips for managing time challenges.

If you’ve listened to my show for a while, you might already know I have eight children, I run my own business, I volunteer with a couple of organizations, I’ve got to maintain a house I’ve got to feed those children, even though some of them have grown up and moved out, they all need me from time to time, and I’ve still got five at home.

Time is a constraint I feel is present in my life.

I feel my situation has given me a level of expertise in time management, and some of the things that I’ve learned over the years might help you to overcome any time challenges you feel are getting in the way between you and getting out there and connecting.

You’re missing out on finding some of these wonderful by-products or wonderful positive consequences, of becoming more engaged in your community.

The three tips.

Start Small and Build Gradually

The first one is you’ve got to start small and build gradually.

I counter a lot of wisdom out there where people say, you’ve got to cut back, you’ve got to get/to take the unnecessary things off your schedule.

I do the opposite of that. I add more. Which seems counterintuitive.

I add very specific things.

I want to add the meaningful activities the joyful activities and I want to be doing more of the things that I derive satisfaction and enjoyment from, or that I’m interested in.

We can start small and then we can build gradually. Doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing type of commitment. We can begin by dedicating small amounts of time to community activities, and gradually increase our involvement as we find the balance that works for us.

As we have more experiences, we begin to realize, what we truly enjoy, as we compare the new things we are slowly adding, we discover what we enjoy the most.

Those things that were never meant to be on our schedule in the first place, can be slowly removed as you add more of what you really treasure.

You can find balance as you go deeper into your interests and start developing those passions. When your emotions get involved, like I explained before, they help us know when we’re on the right track.

Most people genuinely only have a small handful of activities that qualify as a true interest or passion.

When we’re designing a life built around things, what we’re interested, in and passionate about, we find our experience of time changes. And we get increases in energy.

Starting small and building gradually, I think is something worth thinking about as a tip.

Be Mindful of Time Wasting

The second tip.

The second thing which revolves around what I’ve just said, we want to be mindful of time-wasting activities.

I am very guilty of this. When I first started my own business and I’d get busy doing things, like I might design a website, or I might design a business card, or whatever and what I realized is those activities were unnecessary and gave me a sense of false productivity, they didn’t lead to me to getting out there, and connecting with people, and talking to people and understanding what their challenges are, and how I can help them overcome them.

I might be busy doing my website over here, but it didn’t really lead to making a meaningful difference for people. People will transact or do business with you when you provide a valuable service or a valuable product they’re willing to exchange their money for. And the only way to find that out about that is to talk to people and find out what would be valuable.

I found that I would do these things, and I’d think I’m being productive, but it was false productivity. I wasn’t getting an outcome for my business; it was taking up lots of time. I didn’t mind doing all of that work, but it was taking up the time in such a way that it wasn’t freeing the time, for being more community minded and connecting with people.

Learn About Einstein Time

The second tip within the concept of being mindful of time, is one of the concepts I really love. The idea of “Einstein Time”.

There’s a fantastic book called “The Big Leap” and it’s written by an author by the name of Gay Hendrix, and he suggests in that book that our experience of time is influenced by our thoughts, beliefs, and our mindset.

When we operate from a mindset of scarcity, we tend to believe that time is scarce and it leads to feelings of constriction, because everything feels urgent, and stressful, and tense, and we’ve got this constant pressure to accomplish more, more, more, within a very limited time frame. Makes me anxious just thinking about that!

When we embrace Einstein time, which is what I like to do, I have this shift in my mind, and my mind completely shifted when I read that chapter that part of that book. I got a new perception of time, understanding I can see time as abundant and malleable.

I recognize that I have the power to create more time, when I’m aligning with my passions, with my purpose, with my highest priorities.

Kim Harris

I often have a feeling like I have all the time in the world and am astounded by how productive I can be.

When I took the time to look mindfully at my life, and prioritize what I really enjoy, I needed to step out of that that mindset of scarcity, and fully embrace this mindset of “you have got all the time in the world”.

Time is made.

We have it already.

I love the principle of Einstein time. It’s about consciously choosing how we want to experience time and using it in a way that supports our well-being and fulfillment.

I’m talking about this idea of community and mental health is all about our true well-being and fulfilment, so that’s part of being mindful of time-wasting activities. It’s about being mindful about what time means to us and how we work with time and how conscious we are of the time that we do have.

Combine and Batch Activities and Tasks

My third and final tip is combining activities.

As a mum and a mother of a large family, and doing school runs and all those sorts of things, lunches, and breakfast, dinners, stopping to run errands, I love to combine activities.

I’m always looking for ways to integrate what I’m doing with other things.

Kim Harris

It’s not about multi-tasking, which I don’t believe is very helpful. It’s about “batching tasks”.

With certain things, I can do other things. When I’m doing a mundane task, like perhaps cleaning a toilet, it’s a good time for me to listen to an audible book or listen to music for my show here.

Kim Harris

When I’m on the way to pick up my kids from school or on the way home from school, I try to anything outside of the home done, while I’m out.

I like to get into a flow state when I’m doing things, and stopping one thing, to go and do a different thing, isn’t helpful. I’m looking to do things in a way that is as least of an interruption to the flow of an activity as possible.

Kim Harris

It helps me to combine activities so that’s the third tip for when it comes to time constraints.

Conclusion of Time Management Tips

Time is something people do need to learn to deal with, and it is a factor when we’re starting to think about getting back out in the community.

We might have a full plate already, so we want to consider those three tips, start small and build gradually, because there are so many positive repercussions of getting involved in the community, we want to be mindful of any time wasting activities and our mindset around time, we want to be mindful of that, and we want to combine activities where we can so that we can get more bang for our buck, so to speak.

I’ve got a song now this one is “Cool World” by Mondo Rock, and I’ll join you again, shortly.

Recluse to Community Participant

Common Challenges of Reengagement: Social Anxiety and Shyness

You’re listening to Yarra Valley FM 99.1 my name is Kim Harris we’re talking about the connection between mental health and community.

I’ve been talking about some of the typical obstacles that stop us when we are deciding we want to make changes, and it relates to the specific change I’m talking about today of becoming more involved in the community.

I talked about the first major one being time constraints.

That’s a typical one. People are busy these days. We are juggling lots and lots.

The second obstacle, I find is common one is, social anxiety and shyness.

I would ask you the question, do you feel comfortable initiating conversations? Or going out to social events where you don’t know anybody?

Some people are totally fine with it, but some people experience social anxiety or shyness.

Have you ever experienced feelings of social anxiety or discomfort in social situations?

It happens to me sometimes in minor little ways.

I feel a little dread when people ask me the question “What do you do?”

I don’t really have a succinct answer for this question.

I don’t really define myself in terms of those sorts of things.

I’m always doing new and exciting things, in my mind anyway.

I’ve always got some kind of hair brain scheme or experiment I’m running.

So, I find it a very tricky question to answer.

And it fills me with that discomforting feeling, and I get all weird in my head about answering. Maybe you can relate, or maybe you have a career that is much more easily explained. “I’m a vet”, “I’m a doctor”.

Everyone knows what those jobs are.

Tips for Addressing Social Anxiety and Shyness

So, some people struggle with social anxiety, and they feel uncomfortable initiating conversations, or attending an event where they don’t know anyone.

This is an obstacle that can really hinder a person’s willingness to engage in a community activity.

Patience, Practice, and Self-compassion

It’s something that some people need to address, and it does require patience, practice, and self-compassion.

If you are experiencing some social anxiety, or some shyness, how about some tips?

It relates to the third obstacle I often see, lack of confidence, so you can either have a bit of social anxiety or shyness which leads into a lack of confidence, they can be semi-related, but let’s target social anxiety and shyness first.

Set Realistic Goals: Goals that Are Closest to Being Able to Complete

First tip.

First things first, a little tip is to set yourself some realistic goals.

Start small, with tiny achievable goals for yourself in social situations.

For example, you might aim to initiate one conversation this week, or speak up during a group discussion, even if it’s at work or in your family, or with your partner, or a friend.

Every time you do that, every time you initiate a conversation you want to reward that behaviour that positive behaviour, and you want to celebrate each and every accomplishment.

Sometimes we can even know they’re quite simple, but they’re so hard to do when our emotions are running amok. We really want to celebrate those little accomplishments no matter how small they are, because confidence is built. It’s a byproduct of action. Every positive action we take, every time we do the thing that’s hard, every time we reach out and initiate a conversation, or something even smaller, like going to the shop, and asking the check-out operator how their day is going, we are accomplishing. We’re moving one step closer to feel more comfortable in a group.

To feel more comfortable within a new community, set yourself some realistic goals that are close in proximity for you to achieve, not too much of a stretch, don’t expect to go out and involve yourself in a group and start doing everything perfectly right from the start.

Allow Time for Adjustment

It’s can take as long as you need it to. To overcome social anxiety or shyness, and that’s the second kind of tip.

Consider Professional Help and Modern Therapy Techniques

Think about if you need outside help. Like exposure therapy, for example, obviously there are professionals that will help you with gradual exposure therapy.

We’ve got so many different types of therapy, it’s unbelievable.

There are many ways to help you and help you to specifically address social anxiety.

So, consider and think if you need a little bit more extra help.

Virtual Reality Therapy

I’ve got a friend who is undergoing virtual reality therapy now, so they put these goggles on her and they’re gradually just exposing her to get back out in the community.

They put her in a virtual social situation, which isn’t real, and help her to practice what she has learnt to overcome the anxiety symptoms that she feels in social settings.

She’s finding that wonderful, a positive use of modern technology.

It’s helping her, so perhaps that’s something that you might like to seek out?

Some kind of help or professional help just to expose yourself gradually.

Develop Your Social Skills

The third tip around social anxiety and shyness is really building your social skills.

It’s engaging in activities or workshops that improve your social skills. It could be like what I have joined, a public speaking club, but it can be even more fun than that. We can do improvisation classes, there’s even comedy classes, I’ve got a friend who did that for a while. She is very introverted and very much in her own mind, so she decided to do stand-up comedy and she did some classes and ended up doing her own little comedy skit at the end of it.

Keep Your Sense of Humour and Develop It

A different type of participation, but it was to help her break out of her seriousness, her serious shell. She was able to practice and get feedback around her level of humour, and comfort in that kind of social situation. Very interesting way of building social skills.

Other much simpler social skills could be something we’ve talked about in other shows. We’ve talked about active listening and being compassionate and cultivating empathy. Having an empathic kind of viewpoint toward your fellow human beings, in shows to come, I’m going to talk about inclusivity and diversity and how important that is in community.

Shift the Focus of Your Attention

It’s all those ways of shifting our own attention, and actively listening and showing genuine interest in other people. A skill to develop.

One of the cool things about this, is it takes the focus off yourself, and it allows for you to connect with other people.

Emphasize Empathy, Active Listening and Compassion

I think that that is a good thing when you feel anxious or shy. In this world where people use social media and things which are very revolved around a person. I see myself as this little blip in the cosmos, you know if you think about the enormity of, and the complexity of the world that we live in, we can feel we’re not that important.

Anything that helps to take our focus of ourselves and allows us to connect more meaningfully with someone else and big wide world around us – that’s a strength in that kind of active listening – and building these social skills and these social muscles around active listening I think is a wonderful tip and something worth thinking about. Especially if you suffer from any kind of social anxiety or shyness.

Build Confidence in Initiating Conversations

There are skills involved in being confident enough to initiate conversations and initiate those first interactions perhaps in a new community group so lots to think about there.

I’m going to play another song now and this one’s Area 7 “Bitter Words”.

Recluse to Community Participant

Common Challenges of Reengagement: Lack of Confidence

I’ve got a question for you, have you ever hesitated to participate in a community activity due to a lack of confidence?

Do you feel confident in your social skills when you’re interacting with new people or in new groups?

It’s something to think about when it comes to this subject of connecting community and your mental health.

We’re talking about individuals who may lack confidence in their social skills or fear rejection. This makes it difficult for them to reach out and connect with others.

Tips to Address a Lack of Confidence

I want to talk about some tips on how to overcome a lack of confidence.

If that’s how you feel or someone you know feels, this can give you some insight.

My three top tips for overcoming a lack of confidence.

Celebrate Your Strengths and Accomplishments

The first one is celebrating your strengths and accomplishments.

Taking stock of your strengths, talents, and past achievements is a good way to start to recognize your qualities and what you bring to the table.

Even celebrating the smaller success can boost your confidence and remind yourself of your capabilities because as I talked about earlier, confidence is a byproduct. It’s not something we have automatically, it’s something that we get as a result of taking some sort of action.

To take stock of strengths and accomplishments is like mentally reminding yourself “Oh, I did that thing, and I can feel confident. I’ve done things before” We want to start to think about and celebrate those strengths.

Get Science-backed Insight into Your Personal Strengths

There’s a great free profile tool that’s accessible on the internet, it’s called a “VIA strengths analysis”. It takes about two minutes to fill out a little survey and you can get your results, there’s 25 strengths that they have categorized for humans.

You can discover what your top strengths are, and when you start to see yourself acting in your strengths it can be very empowering. Because even though some people can say you want to get out of your comfort zone, I think that it’s okay sometimes, under certain conditions, a lot of the time I would rather you work off your strengths.

When you do this, you get that kickback of confidence.

When we’re feeling good we do good. So, we want to feel good, and we want to start to learn to celebrate our strengths.  And see ourselves being accomplished.

List Your Accomplishments, These Are Usually in Your Zone of Genius

The second tip is take action in your zone of genius.

It’s not always about stepping out of your comfort zone, if you don’t like something, but you’ve got no real reason why, that can be outside of your comfort zone. You can be like “Oh, I don’t like sales” so as a result, you’re not going to do sales. You’re not going to step out of your comfort zone, because you don’t really like it.

If your zone of genius is entrepreneurship, you will need to take action around your discomfort of sales, in service to your zone of genius.

There’s no real reason why to not like sales. Growth and confidence are a by-product of action, so we want to cultivate that growth mindset by adopting a focus that is on continuous learning and improvement, towards our zone of genius.

If there’s something that you feel uncomfortable doing and you don’t really like doing it, sometimes that can be an indicator there is room for growth there.

There is room for learning.

Learn in Your Zone of Genius

I find that often as we learn something, the fear of it goes away the more that we know about it. That’s what I generally find, so challenge yourself to take on new experiences that push past your boundary around what you like, and don’t like, and to do that you’ll need to embrace that mindset of learning and understand and adopt that kind of beginner’s mindset.

Embrace A Beginner’s Mindset and Grow, Grow, Grow!

And that’s the third tip.

We want to engage in skill building activities and to do that we will need to embrace that beginner’s mindset. Take steps to develop the skills related to the area where you lack the confidence.

If you lack confidence in your tennis swing, go and get a lesson. Go and see a tennis pro, get some lessons. Play more often, join a group, join a local tennis club. We want to move toward the thing and enrol ourselves in courses, or training, or workshops, or get some mentoring, or some coaching around the thing, the particular thing, we lack confidence around.

There are some wonderful things even in more of a social kind of scenario not necessarily a sporting one.

Use Technology to Help You Learn

Think about dating.

There’s lots of dating coaches now and dating apps and things like that so if you lack confidence perhaps being intimate and what more one-on-one with someone that you’re interested in perhaps you’d like to build some skills around that. So, you have a bit more confidence with breaking the ice with a potential partner you might want to attract and connect with.

That’s what it’s all about, we want to build our confidence and we can do it significantly, by engaging in building the skills needed to do what that thing requires.

Embrace Learning Opportunities Through Coaching and Mistakes in Application

We want to embrace that beginner’s mindset. There’s nothing worse than expecting yourself to be brilliant at everything we do the first time.

We’re going to have some failures and learn some valuable lessons along the way, as a result of applying the first tip.

We want to celebrate the strengths and accomplishments, so we want to notice “Well, I did connect with that dating coach” or “I did go and join in that tennis workshop on Saturday morning” Whatever it is, I don’t think they call them, I think they call them clinics, or something. I know they have golf clinics around here, some of the golf courses around in the local area. So, they’re examples and they’re tips for building confidence.

When we lack confidence it’s saying “Okay, well this is an opportunity for me to build some skills”. Build some skills around that thing that you don’t particularly feel confident in, and there’s lots of resources out there.

I’m going to play another song here this one’s by Blue and it’s called “All Rise”.

Recluse to Community Participant

Common Challenges of Reengagement: Limited Resources

We’ve been talking about the connection between community and mental health this morning and I’ve just been going through some of the personal challenges that people can have when they’re wanting to embrace more of a community mindset or get out there and get more engaged in the community, and for whatever reason just find some of these obstacles come up to get in the way.

It’s common to see these patterns, and I see these same challenges a lot in the work that I do.

I’ve kind broken down the most common problems that people face when they want to start getting out and about more and connect with the community or perhaps engage with other people. What are the things that stop people and what do we do about it.

The next one on the list is limited resources.

I’m particularly talking, since we’ve talked about time already because that’s obviously a resource, but I’m talking more specifically here about financial constraints.

Are there any financial constraints that prevent you from joining organizations? Or participating in activities? Does what you want to do come with a financial price tag? Do you feel limited by your ability to engage in in some community activities just because you don’t have the money?

This is a real truthful predicament that some people find themselves in.

We sometimes face financial limitations and sometimes that can act as a barrier for us participating in in different things out and about, around the community.

I don’t believe money should deter you from engaging in community involvement, when you consider how impactful it is on your mental health.

We really want to start to think resourcefully and proactively and creatively to find some ways that we can contribute to the community without necessarily the financial price tag.

The key is to leverage your strengths, your connections, and the resources that you already have now, to make a positive impact that is within your means.

I’ve talked about obviously, lessons and things like that, and sometimes they are out of your price range, and that’s okay.

What about three tips for how we can tackle this kind of obstacle?

Tips for Addressing Situation of Limited Resources

A limited resource obstacle.

Research Low-cost or Free Community Activities

Number one, we want to research low-cost or free community activities.

We are very fortunate that our Yarra Ranges Council have many very low-cost, wonderful, subsidised things (even this particular show of mine is being brought to you by a grant) so I could come and talk to you about these sorts of things and promote and inspire and hopefully educate you around some of these ideas and the principles behind being together and being out and about, and being involved in the community.

You’re listening to community radio so I’m assuming by that that you do appreciate being part of the Yarra Ranges and are a little bit more community minded.

So, these are the types of things that are free and low-cost. I would really recommend you check out the Yarra Ranges Council website. There are some great resources, and there’s a community calendar in there of events that are on, especially with the school holidays coming up towards the end of this month, they have lots of kid friendly activities as well.

Join a Club or Participate in Low-cost Workshops

There are lots of organizations and clubs that have opportunities for engagement without a very high significant financial commitment. You want to look for community centres, you can look at libraries, “Oh gosh, Cora Zon, one of our fellow presenters has a fantastic Zine Making Workshop down at the Healesville library, so you might want to check that out.

And that’s a great way to turn your hand to getting some of your ideas published as well, through something that you make with your own hand.

There are lots of non-profit organizations that have affordable or subsidized programs. It’s just a matter of looking out for those opportunities.

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking or Ask Your Digital Assistant to Do it For You

That’s the first one, do some research, let your fingers do the walking. Google some things, Google your local learning centres, and things like that as well there’s some great programs on there that are subsidized.

Volunteer You Time and Skills and Befriend People of Like-mind

Number two is we can also volunteer our time and our skills. Going back to this idea of leveraging your own skills, your own strengths, the connections you already have, the resources you already have, instead of contributing financially, sometimes we can consider volunteering our time and our skills to an organization.

We have been involved in this project of relocating the studio for example, we’ve had a few working bees and people haven’t been in a position to contribute financially to the relocation project, we are still taking donations if you are financial, and you’d love to support the station, please reach out. There’s a way there to donate some money, but we can’t always donate money. Sometimes the best way that we can leverage what we do have, if it’s not finances, it can be our time and our skills. In exchange we get to build our social skills, and increase our mental health and confidence, without a price tag.

We had a few gentlemen turn up at the new station and they were brilliant!

Share Resources Through Volunteer Networks

They were carpenters, or tradesmen, they had all the right equipment, and we would have been completely lost without them without their skilfulness, without the resources they had, we wouldn’t have made it to the new station, which as of next Monday we’ll be broadcasting live from the new station which is very exciting.

If you can’t manage to donate some money perhaps you donate your time and your skills by volunteering in some of these organizations and initiatives?

This allows you to make that meaningful, impact, and connect with like-minded people, but you’re not necessarily incurring an additional cost and your dedication, as I said, can be invaluable to the community.

So, it’s something to think about volunteering.

Develop Financial Literacy and Stop Digging A Hole for Yourself

The third tip is to develop financial literacy and seek advice.

I think this is an interesting one.

When it comes to limited resources, I like the analogy of when you’re digging a hole for yourself, the first thing you’ve got to do is stop digging!

I think developing financial literacy and getting advice around your finances is something that’s worth considering here as a tip.

Get Your Credit Score and Work with Credit Repair Organisations

There are some great there’s some great little companies, there’s one called credit savvy, and it’s a free website, you can use to get your credit check there, and you can use their blog, to start to educate yourself around your finances and getting your finances back on track.

There are some fantastic credit repair type agencies now that help you to stop digging the hole and start to educate yourself on your money, and how money works.

Learn the Language of Money

One of the things I love about these credit repair types of websites is they teach you the language of money, and the language of even talking to a bank manager, and getting fluent around your financial literacy, gaining those skills, how to manage your money, how to budget, and how to be resourceful with the money that you have.

Get Financial Advice from a Professional

Obviously, you can seek advice as well from financial professionals.

You can go to workshops, they’ve got some great workshops I know of around the space of investing, and I am amazed some of these professionals do offer free services as well.

It’s just a matter of looking around, getting the advice, and seeking to improve.

If you’re not feeling very confident in your money, or we don’t have enough money, maybe we want to increase our skilfulness around this topic of finances?

They are my three top tips if you’ve got limited resources, number one research some low cost or free community activities through the Yarra Rangers website, it’s a great first point of call, and will link you to other organizations and activities throughout the Yarra Valley.

Think about volunteering your time and your skills that’s a really good way to get connected but without any additional costs.

And if money is a thing that you know you could learn a bit more about, and you’d be happy to learn about, because you don’t feel confident about, then check out some of those free resources.

Books, Websites, and Newsletters

There’s another Australian author, Scott Pape who wrote “The Barefoot Investor” that’s also got a great newsletter that comes out, you can get on his subscriber list for free and he gives some great tips and links to resources and professional help, on developing financial literacy.

You must be willing to open your mind, and open your computer, and do a little bit of searching.

You can find some great resources when you’re willing to look for them.

I’m going to play a song now and this one’s Jessie J with “Price Tag”.

Recluse to Community Participant

In Conclusion

In conclusion, the journey towards greater community engagement and improved mental well-being is one filled with challenges, but also abundant opportunities for growth and fulfilment. Through this episode, we’ve explored the common obstacles such as time constraints, social anxiety, and limited resources, offering practical tips and strategies to overcome them.

But this is just the beginning of our exploration. In future episodes, we’ll delve even deeper into these topics, uncovering more insights, sharing inspiring stories, and providing actionable advice to help you navigate your own path towards a more connected and enriched life.

So, if you’re ready to embark on this transformative journey with us, tune in to Stories of Change on Yarra Valley FM 99.1. Together, we’ll continue to explore the profound connection between community and mental health, empowering you to make positive changes in your life and in the world around you. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be part of this incredible journey. Join us for the next episode and let’s make a difference together.