People like you – Cameron Ralph

My journey

My name is Cameron Ralph and five years ago, when I was 24, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. As a 24 year old male I felt that I was the only 24 year old male dealing with schizophrenia anywhere in the country. Society told me I could not talk about my illness and I kept it to myself. I only told family and a couple of very close friends.

The early days of treatment were extremely tough. I went from a young, active and fit young man to a slow, overweight and severely depressed shell of my former self. I had lost the passion for my studies, for my recreation and for my life. The worst part was that I was afraid to tell my mates why this had happened and why I no longer did any of the things that I once loved.

This went on for nearly four years. I took my medication and did the right things, but I wasn’t getting anywhere.  It was sometime in late 2005 when I made the most important decision that I had ever made. I decided that the only way that things were going to get back on track was if I took control and made it happen myself.

It started with the weight. I dieted and worked out four or five times week whilst giving up sugar, caffeine and alcohol all the while building toward a seemingly unattainable goal. To my surprise the weight came off rather quickly, I became more active and something began to appear in my life, something that I had not seen in many years, hope. For the first time in a long time I had hope, hope for my future, hope for my happiness and most importantly hope for recovery.

Pretty soon the old me started to return and the people I had known for years began to say that they had not seen me like this for ages. The people I had recently met would say that they had never seen me like this. I became comfortable with my illness and now knew that my future was not set in stone and that I would decide where my future would take me.

What I’ve learnt

This improvement continued until late 2006 when I completely stopped treatment and gave life another go. Let me tell you, it is working wonderfully. Since then I have become engaged, I work as an environmental consultant, I bounce out of bed every morning and enjoy every day. Most importantly I have never been happier.

From my experience I have learnt a lot and with this in mind I recently decided to launch PeopleLikeYou. PeopleLikeYou is a web based organisation aimed at breaking the stigma associated with mental illness by giving it faces, names and personalities. By doing this we can not only break the stigma, but we can enable the public to get to know us. If we can bring mental illness into the mainstream then instead of fear, prejudice and misunderstanding we can instil a sense of admiration and compassion towards those who deal with mental illness on a daily basis.

As the name suggests PeopleLikeYou also aims to show you that the world is full of people like you. It’s similar people, in similar situations, who can share their stories and support each other on their journey. I often say, if you are going to climb Mt Everest, who do want to guide you? Someone who has climbed the mountain, made it back safely and has the scars to prove it, or someone who has read a lot of books about climbing but has never set foot on the mountain. PeopleLikeYou differs from all other organisations because it’s not a politician or a doctor telling you what you should do, it’s people like me, and people like you, talking about our experiences and sharing our support.

PeopleLikeYou will also show people that there is hope and that their future is not set in stone. If you make the tough decisions, take back your power and have the courage to embark on the toughest journey of your life then you can and will lead a happy fulfilling life. It will be the toughest journey of your life but it will be the most rewarding journey of your life, because you will have your life back.

Feel free to check it out at www.peoplelikeyou.com.au

» Back to stories