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A Mind at Peace

ADD ... just naughty behaviour

Nothing wrong with pot, mate!



A Mind at Peace

During Schizophrenia Awareness Week
May has come around and once again we spread,
Hope around our country the stigma we aim to shed.
Many suffer from far and wide with an illness this we know,
Together we shall join as one, face Schizophrenia Awareness Week, helps with open hands,
To let people know they are not alone and together we shall stand.
Family, Friends and Carers play their roles the best they can,
To help the knowledge of Schizophrenia be spread across the land.
Please take a moment to think of Awareness Week, as you may gain,
The knowledge and understanding and the world as one will remain.
Whether you are young or matured in your age,
To some, Schizophrenia remains an empty page.
Please allow yourself to learn and be part of this week,
If you pass a stand of pamphlets please take a peak.
You do not have to share your thoughts nor to even speak.
Although your support is greatly needed, why not take the chance,
To be aware this week even to have a glance.
Your support is a mind at peace,
During Schizophrenia Awareness Week.

Belinda Hemmens


ADD...just naughty behaviour

I am the child who sits near the window in class
I am the child who daydreams and misses everything
I am the child who can't use his 'high superior' I.Q.
I am the child who can't concentrate on the simplest of tasks
I am the child who feels confused when you all...talk at once
I am the child who feels bursts of anger when challenged

I am the child who struggles to tie his shoelaces
I am the child who smashes objects when feeling pressured
I am the child who is defiant till he's blue in the face
I am the child who can't keep his room tidy
I am the child who can't write very neatly
I am the child who is hopeless with sports

I am the child the other kids run away from
I am the child who climbs trees in the dark
I am the child who climbs out windows and runs away
I am the child on anti-depressants
I am the child who likes to sit on the roof
I am the child who talks of suicide at ten years of age
My life is such a struggle... and still, you don't recognise it as a disability!


Nothing wrong with pot, mate!

Sure I’ve tried weed and thought it was cool.
They said it was different, not like alcohol and coke,
No chemicals in pot...it’s natural.....like a herb...less harmful,
But then this one time it was different, I just seem to snap.
To try to explain a psychosis
Is difficult to say the least.
One could never relay the terror and fear one feels,
Thinking that you’re "losing your mind".
A broken arm can mend
A damaged car goes to the panel beaters
A headache gets an aspro
But how do you recognise when your brain is broken?
To watch people’s faces distort right in front of you
To fear your loved ones are from hell and the devil has sent them
To trust no-one as you don’t know, if they are who they seem
To hear people speak when their mouths haven’t opened.
To feel frightened to turn on your radio...as they keep playing the same song.
How can you go to the shops...as the people all look the same…
Maybe they are following you.
To wake up through the night, as Mr. ‘no-one’ keeps knocking.
To hear people calling you...yet you can not see them
To see people you know have died, standing in front of you
To smell smoke from the cigars of strangers sitting at your table…
But no-one else can see them….or can they?
Months of terror, I felt suicidal.
My life was upended and I felt I was going crazy
But I’m one of the lucky ones
It’s been three years and things have settled a lot
I still have occasional voices, mostly if I’m stressed.
I panic if I hear the same song played twice on the radio
Anxiety lives with me now
I still sometimes see those ‘dam’ black cats
So please don’t tell me it’s harmless
Or say it’s better for you than grog.
I like my dreadlocks and nose piercing,
But you can keep your Mary Jane.

Debbie T