Kiera's story

Kiera is 12 years old and part of the Kids With Confidence program. This program provides an outlet for children who have a family member with a mental illness. It is a chance for kids to meet other kids in similar situations and to simply have fun away from the home environment. It includes activities such as camps, and fun outings. Kiera's story won second prize in a national essay competition on the theme of mental health. Congratulations Kiera!

Living through the depression

Carol sighed as she squinted her eyes shut to shield out the bright rays of sunshine. She knew she should be happy, it had been nothing but rain for about a fortnight now, but she still thought she would happily settle for a duller sun.

Carol had suffered from depression for years and she could not help but see the downside of almost everything, and de-socialize herself from everyone. Not talking to her friends made her even more depressed, but it was the way her mind now worked.

When she was younger, Carol was a cheery, bright girl. But three years ago, she found that depression had managed to compress its way into her brain, shunting out much of her everyday happiness.

Carol stumbled into her kitchen to make herself some breakfast when she noticed that the blouse that she had ironed just the night before, ready for the important meeting she had to attend for work that day, had fallen down into a pool of her dog, Smile's, urine.

She groaned and hastened to pick it up, and see if there was any way that it could be fixed, but to her dismay she realized that there was no way she wear that top today.

Carol grumbled, smacked Smile and locked her outside for a while. Now you and I would of course be upset, but would overlook it and choose another top. But because of Carol's depression, she saw it as the downfall of her entire day. Her eyes filled with tears and she thought of how wonderful she may have looked. She walked over to her wardrobe and rummaged through her possessions. With each item she threw out of the way, she wondered why she had bought it, as they made her look fat and ugly, even more than she thought she already was.

After several hours of endured tears and mortification, Carol noticed that she would have to leave in several minutes or else she would be late for her meeting.

She had decided on a baby-blue tank top and some jeans. She quickly brushed her hair and jogged outside to the car. About half-way through her trip, she got caught in a traffic jam. In about five minutes, Carol realised that she was going to be late for her meeting.

She began to think the worst. What would her colleagues think of her being late? Would her boss fire her? He had been stressing all week how vital it was for everyone to attend this meeting…

After a few minutes of concentrated thinking, Carol decided to go home. She could not stand the disapproving looks of her workmates. She decided she would take some sleeping pills. When Carol arrived home she took a couple of pills with a glass of water and fell almost instantly asleep. She did not wake until the next morning.

The sound of a sudden clap of thunder awoke her. Carol wondered when that annoying, bright sun would return …