Mental health advocate launches book

FOUNDER of the Anxiety Disorders Association South East (ADASE) Helen Williams will launch her book ‘The Jigsaw Within My Mind’ on Thursday, May 1, at 1.30pm at City Hall.

Having lived experience with anxiety and depression, Helen received many visits from community members eager to seek her advice while running her business locally in the 1990s.

“More and more people would come into my shop to see me. I understood what people were going through and was essentially the middle person between them and the Anxiety Disorders Foundation in Adelaide,” Helen said. “Through frequent contact with the foundation, I was encouraged to start my own association in the South East.”

In 1993 Helen founded the Anxiety Disorders Association South East (ADASE) where she worked tirelessly advocating for those suffering from anxiety and depression until the closure of the support service in 2016 due to a lack of funding.

Throughout this time Helen dedicated her life to fundraising to bring professionals to the region who would provide workshops to both professionals and sufferers.

“My very first session at the old Mount Gambier Hospital had more than 100 people attend,” Helen said. “That is a lot of people at a time when mental health wasn’t spoken so freely about.”

With the demand to help more community members, Helen went on to study and became a qualified trainer and assessor with a Diploma in Community Services Mental Health.

This enabled Helen to develop her own program called ‘A Great Step Forward’ modelled on the renowned book ‘Mind Over Mood’ based on cognitive behaviour therapy.

This pathway to recovery was delivered by Helen twice weekly and saw more than 3000 people receive help locally.

“The program was accredited by Flinders University and attracted nationwide attention as it was the first of its kind in Australia,” she said. “While the program had a success rate of over 70 per cent, it benefited not just those directly suffering from anxiety and depression but their families as well.”

Despite Helen’s best efforts in maintaining the association, and being awarded Citizen of the Year for her dedication to the cause, unsuccessful attempts to gain government funding saw the closure of the Anxiety Disorders Association South East in 2016.

“Since the closure, people still seek me out for help,” Helen said. “I decided to do one last thing and write this book so that more people can apply the basic skills they need to assist in their road to recovery.”

The Jigsaw Within My Mind will be launched by Flinders University Head of Psychiatry Professor Malcolm Battersby and books will be available for sale at the free event.

To book your spot, contact Mount Gambier Library on (08) 8721 2540 or online at www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/Library under ‘Programs and Events’.