“I grew up fishing a lot with my Dad. It grounds me in my heritage, my forefathers and the links with my kids. There is no end to discovery out there. Even when the tide is low, I will be studying the seabed to see what has changed.”
In meeting Michael*, he is happy to share his story, including how the tides changed for him in the last few months. From the outset, he is open about why he is sharing his story. Simply put, it’s so that others who might relate can be inspired by his story and be motivated to move forward on their own journey.
A simple motivation that connects to Michael’s long career in a community-minded role dedicated to helping others. But when his health started to decline, for him it was a slow realisation that he was now the person who needed support.
“I’ve always been a healthy person, always with a permanent full-time job. But a couple of years ago, I started to feel unwell. I was in a lot of denial about this and didn’t realise that I was at the start of a compounding chronic illness,” shares Michael.
With his health worsening in recent times, Michael’s capacity to work was increasingly being affected, and he moved from permanent work to contract work to manage his symptoms better. But after a contract ended, Michael found himself without work and with bills mounting.
He shares, “I can talk about this now, but three months ago, I was flustered and overwhelmed. I was thinking to myself, ‘I’ve got kids, no job, and I’m not able to pay my rent, my car bills’. I was unable to cope, but I was not willing to lie down and take it. So I started reaching out for help.
At first, I worked on understanding my chronic illness, learning about my health options and what I could do to manage it better. At my health clinics, they would also give me numbers for professional workers in other departments I could contact for support.
It took a lot of effort to make these calls as I was in grief of losing my health and grief of losing my work. But I was facing some big consequences, including homelessness, if I didn’t do something. I knew I had to stay proactive and focused on solutions.”
After connecting with several agencies, Michael began to get his health back on track and was soon ready to resume work gradually, and he secured a short-term contract.
But despite all of these efforts, a looming concern for Michael and his family was that the tenancy for their rental property was now weeks in rent arrears, with his next pay check still some time away.
It was at this time that Michael phoned his property manager at Greg Chappell Real Estate to share his concerns. They recognised immediately that Michael needed further support to ensure he and his family could continue their tenancy. So his property manager quickly made an early intervention referral via PM Assist to connect Michael with support from a local specialist housing and homelessness service, CASA.
Michael shares about his property manager, “She has been one of those angels. Once she saw I needed support, she made the referral and then gave me a quick follow-up call to ensure I had received the SMS. I quickly replied yes to confirm my consent for the referral, and I was soon connected with CASA.”
Once connected with a case manager experienced in working with people at risk of homelessness, Michael set to work with her, determined to turn around the financial challenges he was experiencing that were jeopardising his tenancy.
“It came at just the right time. My case manager listened to me and started to talk to me about financial help, including counselling. It was the right time to hear this. She was really encouraging and was able to provide me with support to get me back on track.
I had been really freaking out as we were looking at homelessness if I couldn’t have worked through this. The way she encouraged me has just made me even more committed to keeping my health on track and continuing strongly with my work opportunities.”
With this timely targeted support, Michael and his family’s tenancy is now back on track, and with renewed clarity and confidence, he continues to move forward positively.
“I never imagined that I could be sick, that this could happen to me. I’m swallowing my pride to tell you. But I’ve levelled up and now understand how important self-care is. It’s okay to ask for help when you need it.
I’m making sure my health is on a good trajectory, that I’m continuing to be a good father and that I’m contributing to the community. Navigating is a good word to use for it. You could say that I’ve been on the seas. But just like fishing, I’m once again finding my peace and harmony.”
*Name has been de-identified.