Extremely Human: Trailer

How can we respond to distress with greater compassion and humanity?

Sometimes as humans, we have experiences that aren’t shared or understood by others. Often these experiences can feel extreme, scary, unreal or even euphoric. Experiences like psychosis, depression, grief and addiction.

Here is a little taster of highlights from some of the conversations Lucy and Rachel have had so far with incredible humans who vulnerably share their different perspectives on these ideas.

Come and listen with:

Lucy (She/Her) – A big fan of pickleball, ice cream and storytelling

Rachel (She/Her) – Social Worker, Dialogical Practitioner and wildly passionate about transforming the culture of mental health services to be person-led and human rights informed.

Incredible artwork @sharleencu_art

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT – Extremely Human Trailer

LUCY This podcast has conversations around different mental health experiences that may be distressing for some people. If that doesn’t feel like something you want to explore today, you might wanna visit another podcast and come back to us another time.

RACHEL discovery college acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters, and community. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and to the elders past and present. They have never ceded sovereignty.

LUCY In this podcast, we share stories that help us learn from each other, connect us, and inspire growth. We want to acknowledge that this way of being, of coming together to share knowledge and stories is a tradition that has already existed on this land for hundreds of thousands of years as a part of the culture of First Nations people.

RACHEL discovery college acknowledges the views shared in these podcasts are about mental health experiences, but are not a substitute for professional mental health advice and support. The views in this podcast are not the views of Alfred Health, but are the views of the individuals we’ve had conversations with.

LUCY The stories we share on this podcast aren’t just stories, but memories of the people who have bravely shared their experiences with us. Remember to take care of yourself as you listen, as well as to take care of the stories that you hear.

MUSIC

RACHEL This podcast series called Extremely Human Looks at the profound experience of extreme states from both personal and outsider perspectives. When we speak about extreme states, we are exploring a more humanistic way to describe and understand people’s experiences that aren’t always shared by others.

LUCY Through sharing stories, we strive to understand and describe the unique journeys that may feel unusual, confusing, distressing, or even wonderful for individuals. Each extreme state holds different meaning for each person, including those related to psychosis, depression, grief, and addiction. As we have conversations with a variety of people, we explore an important question, how can we respond to distress with greater compassion and humanity?

MUSIC

RACHEL The Extremely Human Podcast came about because we started to realize there were many untold stories about extreme states that needed to be heard about what had been helpful to people and what hadn’t.

LUCY We discovered a theme about the importance of compassion and here are some of the snippets of what we heard.

JAMIE The more I was able to spend time with people in extreme states, the more I realized what a naturally human experience it needs to be viewed as in order to be helpful in that space. So as a clinician, I think we spend time around people and we find ourselves wanting to find the on and off switch at times to just help, to change, to fix professionals. Um, in general, and you know, this is without judgment at all, but can see distress as a black and white state. Respond according to the book and apply the theory and the knowledge, the low and slow and the de-escalation. And sometimes de-escalation is not always the best first thing to do. If someone has an experience that needs time to expel itself, to exhaust itself or, or to simply have that distress expressed in a way that they feel they need to in the moment. Then jumping in with de-escalation and you know, tell me how you feel and all that sort of good stuff that has its place. I think sometimes rushing to that approach can be perhaps sometimes missing the human element of, of what’s happening in front of you with someone in distress. You know, how do you be a human first and a professional when it’s required? To me, that’s the order that, um, for my ...