TrueLife - Lidia Hall - Resolute Ready

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/Lidia HallFounder/CEOA global mental health hub for everyone.  We are not a clinical professional or government organisation. We are a community who have first-hand experience of the mental and physical challenges that are experienced by many returned Veterans. We exist to see a stop in the generational cycle of service trauma in Military, First Responder connected families, to see relationships restored, and to do what we can to prevent  suicide. We support the community in Mental Health.https://resoluteready.com/ One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Hears through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Serafini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. I hope everybody's having a beautiful day. I hope the sun is shining and the birds are singing the wind is at your back. it's imperative that you understand how beautiful of a guest I have for you today. So in order to do that, allow me to give you an introduction that I hope you'll never forget.

It is a privilege to introduce to you, a truly remarkable individual who embodies the fusion of creativity, advocacy, and a profound commitment to positive change in the world of health and well-being. Well, like everyone to meet, Lydia Hall, the visionary founder and CEO of Resolute Ready. Her journey is a tapestry woven with threads of education, performing arts, and a relentless drive to empower individuals and create transformative shifts in the realms she touches. Her experience as an educator and project manager within the performing arts community has equipped her with a unique set of skills, allowing her to navigate complex projects with grace and precision. However, Lydia's journey transcends the stage and the boardroom.

In 2010, she received a heartfelt invitation from the late Gene. Zwedeski, former Minister of Indigenous Affairs to participate in an international symposium on Aboriginal Economic Development Strategies and Banef Canada. This pivotal moment ignited Lydia's passion for positive change and open doors to diverse cultural organizations. Throughout her career, Lydia has championed change, particularly in the field of education where her passion for social inclusion has left a lasting imprint on humanity. But it doesn't stop there, Lydia's personal life experience have led her to advocate tirelessly for veterans and their families, notably through her involvement in the Royal Commission into Veterans'

suicide. What sets Lydia apart is her indomitable spirit and her ability to harness her creative energy and wisdom as a force of empowerment. She not only builds teams and navigates challenging situations with grace, but also inspires individuals to explore new ideas and achieve beyond their expectations. Her acting career has honed her gift of creative communication, making her a motivational and inspirational figure. Ladies and gentlemen, Lydia Hall, she is more than an advocate. She's a catalyst for positive change in the realms of health and well-being.

Her unwavering commitment, vivacious energy, and deep-rooted empathy make her a force to be reckoned with. And I think after hearing our conversation today, everyone will want to be spending some more time with you. Thank you for being here today with me. Oh, thank you so much. This is such an honour. For those listeners, you know, I've tuned in all the way from Australia

and I think it's really important how I got here. So one morning at 4.30 in the morning, I was extremely, I just woke up, picked up my mobile phone and there he was, George, interviewing L. Eden, Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine. And I thought, I was really captivated by this podcast. and I'm quite amazed with the future technologies and the out of the box thinking. And as George knows, as soon as I heard collaboration and innovation in the same sentence, something drew me to email George and say, you know, I felt really compelled. But even though we kind of, this is our first little meeting,

it's like I feel like I've known you for ages. So from that, I was invited and I really do feel honored because when you hear phrases like change your language and change your life, of course I had to do some research on this fella. That really resonated with me, you know, because through life we do go through, we do get different handballs and it's all the way we respond to the crisis, the chaos, the interruptions. but how can we be true to ourselves along this journey? And then suddenly I hear this wonderful saying that, you know, that this is a platform where you can actually present your own truth and it's safe and it's okay. And it's pretty much when I used to teach,

that's what I used to say to my students. This space is safe, right? You cannot make a mistake in this space. You know, the more mistakes you make, the more forward you're going to get, you know, but you're just going to start somewhere. and so that's that's the journey that that that I'm on and I continue to you know and I think that that phrase you know when you say oh you know I wish I knew back then what I know now right

oh jeanne could have helped you know a few a few decisions along the way but you know I just say when it comes to innovation you don't beat yourself up you you just if it sits right with you and I love what I think it's Roosevelt, what he says, believe you can and you're halfway there. I think that's one of his saying. So anyway, probably October last year and also the catalyst, I must say, for Resolute Ready, is very much part of my personal journey. I met a man that served in his team,

and when he returned as a veteran, he suffered chronic PTSD and really struggled with and self-medicated on alcohol. Now, initially during this phase, you know, you meet your person, the love of your life, and then you think, yeah, it's going to be all hunky-dory, and then things happen. And in that split moment of once I was lecturing at a university and literally overnight, became, I was on suicide watch. And so suicide ideation amongst our military and first responder and connected families is quite high.

So then I looked into this a bit further and I realised, you know, this is actually a global crisis. You know, how can humanity come together, bring all our resources together to help one another where it's not dependent on funding money? So the birth of Resolute Ready is that. That's where it's come from. So at that point, in October last year, I connected with a website developer and said that I really want to create a platform to link communities, global communities across the world,

to support services so that no matter where they traveled around the world, they would always feel connected no matter what happened. So, you know, according to, you know, we're just coming through the pandemic, natural disasters and war conflict. And, you know, it's predicted, I'll have to quote me on the report, but there's actually, it's quoted that by, I think,

28 will be spending something like, I know, $344 billion on mental health. Now, let's say that I can, I can contribute to 10% of that quota where we don't have to use that funding. That funding can be used elsewhere and be more productive. So I'm not, I'm not interested in reinventing the will. I'm about collaboration. I'm not about competition, you know, Resolute Ready. That's, you know, we're a community that's come together. We've identified that there is an issue, a few issues,

and we're a response to the actual Royal Veteran Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. So you can say that's kind of the instigator there as well. So on reflection, Resolute Ready's, you know, we reflected and we realized that in Australia there are over 6,000 existing service organizations, but no one actually knows where they are, right? So as a partner, I want to, you know, I really want to support my husband and my family,

but where do I go for help? And luckily enough, I persisted and until I worked out who I needed, what I needed, what networks we needed to surround the family with. And then, then I think, thought, you know what? I think we need a virtual hub. So an online directory, a library. So I thought, maybe I'll just start off with little Adelaide. No. Maybe the whole of Australia. No. Then it becomes global. So we launched the Resolute Ready organization and the hub on the 20th of April

this year. Within the first month of it being up and running, we got to the first month of it. We got over 7,000 hits and we're able to identify because, as you know, data's extremely important in this today's world of understanding, because it informs direction as well. We had, you know, the widest community at the moment was Australia, but then the United States was behind, the UK, Canada, we had Germany, Ireland, I think Japan, India, France and Sweden, have just suddenly tapped into. So this is telling me that we've identified a disconnection or a gap and that is linking services,

not just at a local national level, but at a global level. So I was thinking, well, with all these wonderful online resources, why not go to the virtual hub and treat it like as if, you know, your traditional library where you've got lots of different categories, and work out what it is that you need according to where you are at the moment. So my question is, what does one need to live a well-lived life? And what happens when certain components don't exist and how does the family fall apart

and relationships end up being broken? What is it that we can do to restore that? So our mission, Resolute Ready, the first thing is to stop the intergenerational impact of service trauma. We know children get impacted. Yeah. The next thing is to the whole thing about restoring relationship. If we got early intervention and we got services and programs and support to these families at a global level a lot earlier, I truly believe it will reduce the impact of the trauma.

I know in my family, I tell you what, I reckon if we could put Lydia's tears, we'd call it not the Malle River, it would be Lydia's river. And it'd go for a very long time because you know what it's like when you get to that point where you're experiencing despair and you don't know where to go and you feel like you're hitting your head against the wall and nothing is making sense except you've been told you're the crazy one. So that determination to problem solve and to once again navigate the web of crisis, you know, what, you know, preventions can we put in place before the crisis happens? What supports are there at crisis and what supports are there in recovery? Yeah. There's a lot that Resid Ready is doing. it up a little bit and start with like let's say that I am here in Hawaii and I'm having some

issues dealing with some some trauma in my life. Okay. I call I reach out to Resolute Reddy. Like what do I see when I go on to the screen? Is it like is there like a menu that talks about if I want to talk to a counselor, can I contact you or like is there a directory of services? What do I see as some individual who may be in a form of crisis? Like what do I see when I look at that screen? Well, as you can see, this is a project. in progress. We've just launched in April. So there are a couple of really important functions. The first one is that it is going to be, the legacy is, a really comprehensive directory of support services. The second function is that if you work in this space and you offer support programs

and other services or an organisation that can contribute to enhancing the quality of life of humanity, you can go and actually submit your service. I don't have the funds. I'm thinking about sustainability. That's why I've had to be a little bit innovative. I cannot afford 300 virtual assistance. But what I can do is create a performer that will go to the globe worldwide and anyone can submit their service. Then obviously it comes to our team where it'll get vetted because we're very protective of this community. And also there's the opportunity to give feedback. And this is really important when, you know, if we're going to government, because we know government's quite conservative as far as funding and who they give their funds to. But if I've got data that can inform and say,

you know, go to your Hawaii government dignitaries and say, look, you know, in a few years time, I can actually let you know which services are actually being used and utilized and where the gaps are. So let's not reinvent the will. Let's not waste any more funding where it shouldn't be, you know, wasted, you know. We've got so many, you know, intellectual, creative, innovative minds in this world. And this is a platform. If we can come together and just share the knowledge and how with technology, we can access it a lot quicker. I think that it's really important that you also are aware that we do have a crisis helpline. Resolute Ready, we're not medical professionals. It's more, I love it because the couple of Marine Corps from the US, they say,

oh, it's like a switchboard. It just leads you to the right department. right so ideally down the track i would love all government bodies and agencies whether it's you know any organization that works in the veteran affairs space or first responder space or whether you're a health a medical health provider to come on board but the beauty that as i'm developing this i'm thinking there's a space for research so then i've got like the university of new south wales Dr. Roger Margaret and, sorry, Dr. Margaret Rogers, and she's done a fair bit of work in the education space. And then I've got, you know, here in South Australia, we've got Meshire that really focuses on veterans and first responders and families. And then we've got all the wonderful work that's

coming out of Canada. And then suddenly, in tapping into the global network, I have a wonderful meeting with a lovely gentleman by the name of Dr. Daniel Perkins from the University of Pennsylvania, who produced this paper identifying what one needs to transition into a civilian life per se so that you can lead and live a quality life. So without me knowing, I'd unpacked those headings of mental, physical health, employment, you know, social engagement, you know, all those wonderful headings and made those explicit. So I would love this platform one day, no matter where you're on the world, tap into Hawaii, and let's say we've got service providers that have come on board

and going, I'm homeless. And then suddenly a whole range of services appears. The research can be done through postcode, through your state or you select the country that you're in. So it's got a really good filtering system. And what I love about the virtual hub is the fact that part of my scope was, please make it easy to follow, please make it easy to read,

please make it easy to navigate. When you're stressed, the last thing you need is a multiple-layered highway with lots of roads leading everywhere but nowhere, if you know what I mean. Because when you're not, when you need that, when you're experiencing, I think, mental stress of any type, the last thing you need is more chaos, more confusion.

So I must say Bench Studios is the website developer and they just, you know, Michael there just tapped into the heartbeat of what it was that I was trying to convey and implement. Now, I will, if everyone's probably going, how is she funding this and where she had? Because they're always the questions. To be honest, because of the level of urgency. I believe and how this needs to move forward is the fact that I couldn't wait. So my husband and I got a little bit of inheritance and he said,

oh, you can paint the top layer of the house and da-da-da-da. And I'll be honest. Saving lives is much more. If anything happens to me tomorrow, this is the legacy I want to leave, is the fact that there is this amazing platform that can really provide easy access anytime, anywhere. It's not a place, it's not where you can ring and make crisis, you know, calls, but what it will tell you in certain countries, what number to dial. The most other thing that, and also specific service providers with the need that you, you know, that you're requiring

at that particular time in your life. But the other most amazing thing, then I got really excited was, I was thinking, this platform, if you go to the, Resolidready.com crisis tab and you scroll down and you go to Ukraine. Now, you might, Lydia, why have you got Ukraine and Turkey? Now, these are war, disaster, conflict zones. And when I went into the Ukraine, I clicked on emergency. And if you're having a look at my website and you click on emergency under Ukraine, there's actually a procedure for protection, a map.

So I thought, wow. I could, this could, Resolute Ready, could also be almost like a national security platform of first responders sending me a link going, right, this is just happened in Hawaii. You know, we've just had some floods or we've just had some really bad weather. This is the map for those communities where to go. And I can just quickly with a click of a button, put it up there straight away. So what this is doing, Resolute Ready, it's actually central. the information to one place, to one spot. And this excites me the fact that I know that it's working

because of the engagement that we're receiving, the email that I received from an ADF member from Australia, living in England, wrote me an email saying, Lydia, I really need someone to talk to. I'm an ADF Australian, you know, Defence Force member, but I'm living in the UK and I just need someone to speak to. No problem. Go out to my community, global network, found him a service provider within the UK and then what is it? Lydia, thank you. Resolent Ready, thank you for the connection. Now I have someone to talk to. It's really simple. And the feedback,

that I get is why has anyone else thought about this? It's such a simple, really, it's not a complicated concept or idea, but I am, I feel very humbled that we can use this platform to bring down borders digitally and connect, you know. I think, yeah, connection is prevention. Yeah, I think so too. I guess I'm curious. There's so much going on there.

Sometimes it sounds like on some level, it sounds like such a gigantic project and there's all these things happening. Is there a certain avenue that you focus on mostly? Because it sounds like there's so much there. Like you can have so many possibilities helping so many people. Absolutely.

Is there like one or two things that you're really focusing on? Or is it just all of them trying to? No. At the moment, it's a, well, one is really important is awareness. If people know where to go for help, yeah. Right. The second thing is letting the, I suppose, those that work in the health profession,

you know, the health service providers know about Resolute Ready and come on board so that, you know, we can find and access you a lot more easily, you know. What is that process? What does that process? process look like if I'm a if I'm a professional and I want to come on board like all right go to resolute ready okay go to resolute ready.com I want you to click on the virtual hub then you'll probably get just some basic questions we do not collect any personal information and the other thing is we do not

charge right there's not a membership fee I do not believe that we should be charging individuals and families that suffer mental health issues to save themselves and live equality, live life. Morally, it just does not resonate with me at all. So the first thing you do is, so I'd go on there and I'd go, you can say, I am a community member, right? And it'll pick up from which country you're from, roughly your age. And I think whether you've got a children in particular, that's only related.

to military and veteran communities just to know who's tapping in. It's just data. Like we can't track you. It's really safe, okay? So you go in there and you'll, once you're in there, you've got two options. One, you can go straight to the virtual hub or you'll see this other tab and it says submit your service. That will pop up in a pop up box and it'll ask information like the name of your organization,

a blurb about what service you provide, some details, so that once it's all approved, it comes to one of the Resolute Ready team, and we approve it. And once it goes up, it appears like a little pop-up box. And underneath, we can identify whether it's advocacy, housing, legal, what services you actually provide straight away, which makes it easier for the user to know what you're about. Now, if I'm really interested in this,

I'll just click on that box again and it'll appear in a bigger pop-up box and you'll have access to the website of that organisation. I do not have to be involved. You go directly there. You've got phone numbers you can call within your own country because you know you've given me all that information so that it can go up on the resolute ready website and also then the wonderful thing is is that you will receive a code

when you receive that code you are in total control of the content that you're actually producing on this free marketing promotional space and you can go in any time let's say in a couple a month's time, you've come up with a new program and you feel that you want to, you would like to promote it to the globe or, you know, and then you can use the virtual hub to promote in your, within your networks and conferences. And so gradually, already from April to now, we've already increased in networks. So it's really just about saying to the globe, worldwide, come on this adventure, be part of the healing journey. Let's see if together we can reduce the impact of global suicide through connection. I know in the US you guys have got

some wonderful programs online that don't cost anything. It's really valuable information. Why not share it with other countries around the world so that we can collaborate, share the knowledge, be resourceful with our funding, to me, this excites me. And I just really hope that everyone can become as passionate as I am and say that, you know, we need to value people. We need to value children. We need to value lives. This is about valuing one's life. And I will fight for someone who needs to be saved in any way by, I can't, you know, exactly what you said, I can't do everything. So the focus is, is the awareness, bringing countries around the world to make them aware

of the Resolute Ready Virtual Hub, making sure they know how to come on board and to seek, you know, in a collective, collaborative way, what an amazing difference we can make. And it's not going to put anyone anything. Yeah, that's, it's so amazing to think that just a few clicks of a button could potentially help save someone's life. And for, I bet you, I'm willing to bet most people listening to this have at least known somebody who has had a family member who tried to commit suicide or did commit suicide or some of us have had friends in the military or you read about it in the paper all the time.

And when someone takes their own life, they may be gone, but they leave a trail of tears behind. You leave this legacy of so much pain behind. It can be overwhelming. It's a beautiful thing to think that there's people out there going out of their way to set something else to stop that from happening. You've shared a little bit about your personal life and having that sort of experience. Are there some other experiences that you have learned about since setting, up this particular organization? Yeah, look, one as an innovator, I've got this line of, I know what my core business is.

Not that this is a business per se, but it's like our core business is to save lives. So when I enter a meeting or I enter a discussion, if I can see that we're aligned, absolutely let's collaborate but if I can see that the heartbeat isn't in a we're not a line then it's okay as an innovator to go I thank you so much but I just think that we just

are too different in some ways in some areas but at the same time I hope we can collaborate to you know to promote the goodness of humanity yeah so from that and I suppose when you are innovating you're actually entering around an arena of the

unknown right so quite a few times I'd be going I think I'll just have to go with the flow with this one right I don't really know I've got this wonderful idea but how it'll be received I'm not sure. Like I never, you know, honestly envisaged me having a discussion with you today. This was just a little idea in October in 2020. And here we are. So I think you've just got to keep moving forward, one foot in front and you just don't give up. And we say it resolute ready that saying no is not an option, saying yes to life is.

and if you get stuck, you problem solve until you, you know, you knock on enough doors until you get the answer that you're looking for, even if you're in a position where it is so chaotic and you can't see through the darkness or the despair. Trust me, the storm will pass. It'll pass, you know. So on that level. But when you're dealing with suicide ideation within your family, that's, that's, you know, that's the, the moment that life breathes in you, you do not give up for your loved ones, no matter what. And it's that perseverance and determination, like I was saying before, just to keep knocking on those doors till you get the answer that you're looking for.

Now just remember that, you know, through my experience in the, you know, doing this work, is that we all respond to trauma in a different way. Not all programs, it's not, you know, one particular program or therapy suits everybody. So I've done therapeutic. I've had to, you know, engage with a psychologist and get a better understanding about paedistic. service trauma, understand. I don't understand. We went into the restaurant and he sits with his back towards the wall.

Why does he do that? Why does he react to loud sounds? Why does he feel like he needs to know the entrances and exits of wherever we go? Right? You know, what's the cause of the nightmares? What's happening there? And how does certain medications impact the part of the mind? that's meant to be rational if you're not operating from that part of your mind, yeah,

or that part of your brain and how does a brain operate? And what's happening to the, what's that little thing called the migula? What, is it in the, you know, is everything, are all the trans, you know, transmitters in the right spot? Is it all doing the right thing? And then you've got this other whole, oh, another bag of worms that you've got. got to unfold and that's called communication. Like how we know that the way we communicate with each other, everyone can hear it, but their

interpretation of it can be totally different. So then I've had to, you know, really emphasize paraphrasing back. So to avoid arguments or identify triggers so that we wouldn't argue, you know, it's all the groundwork that takes time and you need compassion, you need understanding. even when you're going through the chaos. I don't know if that's making sense to your listeners. But I think the key thing is just not to give up. Yeah, I think so too.

It's interesting to hear the way in which, I can hear like the passion in your voice and you can tell that anybody who's been in situations where you may have been around people that are suicidal, you feel this profound loss. And you, you as the person, are almost, part of you dies a little bit. And, you know, when you were talking about trying to understand the reasons why people do the things they do, on some level, I can see you desperately and lovingly and caringly trying to help this person find out

and make sense of this life in front of them. Like, is that maybe the foundation of why you started this? And is that the message that goes forward to other people? No, for me personally, it's when you've got a child and a child gets impacted, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I get a bit emotional. It really touches your soul, like on a deep level, when you love someone so deeply in your family. And they come to terms that their life is not worth living.

you have no other option, but to not accept that, to not accept that way of thinking, you know, change your language. What do you say, George, you know? Change your life, change your language, change your life. That's it. And it's all about the mindset, you know, where that person is. But when they find themselves in that moment, that's their reality. That's their perspective of how they view themselves.

in the world that they're living in. So we're very much about early intervention. Yeah. Because it's the suffering. I want to minimize the suffering and the pain that comes with that. So that's what drives me, right? I just, you know, to wake up and to hear people that you love say, they don't want to live anymore, that's a really hard tablet to swallow.

And, you know, at that moment, it doesn't matter how intelligent you are. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor. It doesn't matter what your background is. But your focus is, how can I help this human being feel part of the world again? No one deserves to feel worthless. No one, you know, it's. And that's what drives me.

It's my lived experience. So that's the other thing when someone comes to me and says, I can't get over your website. It's really easy to navigate. You can tell it's designed by someone that's lived it. That's a lot of the feedback that I get. You can tell that it's someone that's got, you know, or a group of people.

well I've got to incorporate the resolute team. They're amazing, you know, and they're all volunteers, but they have lived experience on one level to the other. They bring a professional skill set. I'll never turn anyone away that wants to be, you know, a Resolute Ready community engagement liaison for their country, for their state. As long as you align with the heartbeat of Resolute Ready and you want to put your hand up just to improve, life within your state, your country, this can only grow. And if you go to the section about us, you'll see the tab on the Resolidtready.com. You'll see our little story.

But if you scroll down and you click on Australia, you'll see all the Resolite Ready Community Engagement Liaison sort of come on board. And if you go to the US and if you go to the UK. So we've got the structure there. Now it just needs to grow organically. Yeah, I do. It seems that when real people get involved to help other people, that's when the healing begins.

I know that it's very difficult to do things without funding. There's so many great communities out there that go out of their way to collect and do stuff for people. But there's a real difference when it's organic. and people help people. It seems like that there's much more, almost more love involved when it's that way. When it's just people volunteering or getting together

and doing the right thing instead of doing things right, you know, people tend to learn and live and feel more. You know that feeling when, you know, you feel like, oh, I just want to catch up with someone today. And so you organize your coffee date or the walk with the dogs with a mate, or just so for that connection. And then you realize that that's what it's all about.

It's about connection. That little pick up the phone, make the phone call. Don't be, and sometimes, you know, have you ever been in a position where you actually don't feel it? like you just want to stay in bed and you just want to put the sheets over your head and hide from the world and and but change your language change your life my mind i'll go lydia i know you're not feeling feeling the love right now i know you're you know you're just you're exhausted you know i know you've got things to do but you've got to show up

And I think I learned that from one of the members of our resolute team, Beverly, she'd always say really important to show up. That's the first step. So make that phone call, ring a friend, you know, get the courage. Even if your mind is opposing it, fight that with all your might. Fight the thoughts. and if you can't do something active, pick up the phone. Do something.

Say, right, I just need to get to bed, right? Okay, I just need to get into the shower. The first step, that could even be your first early intervention. It all starts from the mindset as well. But then, you know, we can't undervalue the amazing work that medical professionals do as well. You know, some of us, you know, might have to be. medicated for a short period of time so that we can, you know, do the work with a psychologist. But you've got to have a mind that's going to be open to that, you know.

So you've got to tap into your medical professionals, you know, let your general practitioner know in your state that you're struggling, make that phone call or get someone and say, you know what, I can't do this. Can you support me through this, this, you know, the admin, you know. That's the other thing we'd like with my husband. There was so much admin work that needed to be done through, you know, that the government bodies involved. I think I once went in with three folders and it wasn't so that I wanted them read.

It was really just to illustrate this is what a partner or a carer or a neighbour has to do to support this individual, you know. And so on that level, then the other thing that really resonates is the education aspect. Right. And it's also what is the best emergency response to a crisis? What does that look like? And so I've been doing a bit of research to try and find different models that I can present to government dignitary. and so they can explore this, you know,

and different countries have got their processes in place. We can learn from one another. But at the moment, for me, a really good response to an emergency crisis. And I'm talking about like within the family, you know. So yet the first thing you do is that you'll contact with it. Here in Australia, we've got triple zero in Hawaii. What's it in Hawaii? Is it?

911. 911, yeah. So, but sometimes there's that issue where when you are looking after someone who suffers PTSD and you call the police, we've got to make sure that there's an understanding what service trauma is and that our veterans are not, they're not criminals. They're actually mentally not well. So you would have to handle that a little bit differently because that's, could escalate it to a different level.

This is just some thinking that I've been thinking about. And the other thing is when we do make that call to the emergency line, and then what I'd like to see is that, of course, it goes to perhaps a caller that is trained in service trauma and then that that personal individual or family is medically triaged. obviously go to the hospital if necessary, get the right support and medical assistance, but it doesn't stop there. I wouldn't then like them to go to the virtual hub, search a service provider within their state and town,

whatever it is, connect them with a case manager. With that case manager, can work with the individual or the family to develop a well-being or safety plan. but the most crucial point in helping any individual family, this is only based on my lived experience, okay, is the follow-up. The follow-up is always missing in a lot of cases that I've had discussions with this community. And that was missing with my experience.

That didn't actually happen. I had to instigate once, you know, someone was in hospital to get that individual transferred to a veteran hospital that assists with that, that's got the history of that individual. You know, we need to try and avoid putting individuals being re-traumatized because every time they speak to someone, they've got to start from the beginning and tell their story. Great. Well, that's really horrific.

So let's, you know, I'd love that to be explored further. what, you know, oh, this just comes to my mind. It's something you said, one of your podcasts. See, you're in my head. And that is about policies that dehumanize. How do we approach policies that perhaps once we're working fabulously, but now just need to be addressed because they're not timely. They're not in real time.

if that makes sense, right? And I think lived experience can influence policy changes as well. Well, I'm hoping that could be, you know. And I think, like I know at the moment in Australia that we've got a new secretary at the moment. And she's working very hard to bring in positive. change within the Department of Veteran Affairs by collaborating with other organisations and service providers really trying to encourage outside the box thinking which which is exciting. I know change is coming. I can't determine the pace or how quickly but if we can all you know

throw a hat into that arena and have a voice and share your thoughts and your concerns so that at least government dignitaries are aware of what's happening in your community or within your state or country, it's only then that something can be done, you know. And sometimes, you know, as a civilian myself, you know, at this time soon I've had that thought where I go, oh, they already know that. And then I do some research and I go, I don't think they do. I think they're aware, but they, you know, so when I presented to the Royal Commission, I'm very solution-based.

So I came, I presented like four national priorities and that needed addressing everything from, you know, systemic reform, looking at suicide intervention prevention, because that's what, what the topic is at the moment, looking at how education and the health sectors contribute to the impact of suicide. And what else can we do around that? Then I read the terms of references and I actually wrote the issues that I felt were concerning to me.

Now, this is, remember, from my lived experience as part of my family, but the important part is that I've always been solution-based. I really want to encourage the positive change, try and take a solution to whatever problem you see happening in your community. I find that government dignitary are much more open to wanting to hear because they really want to collaborate and work with you. And sometimes the ideas are things that are missing. and as a lived experience, a member of my family,

I was just able to highlight and bring a different perspective on things. Whether my ideas are taken up or not, I cannot control that. But I surely can contribute to making positive change by having a voice. I feel quite honoured to here in Australia, We've got the Open Arms, which is a 24-hour counselling service for our veterans and their families. Now, I'm in that national body and I'm in that committee. And already I can see that they're trying really hard to make positive change. The other factor that's really fascinating is sometimes,

government level, we know they're making the changes, but it's how it's communicated to those on the ground. Sometimes it's happening, but we just want to be informed. If we know that change is coming, no matter how quick or how slow, it's not the pace, right, but let's get it right. Let's just get it right. Let's collaborate. Let's have a safe forum where, you know, we can all contribute. So, that leads to a global initiative that's coming up on the 20th and 22nd. If I can just share that with your listeners. Please. It's a bit of a walk-a-thon.

So a couple of weeks ago, now I suffer with Hashimoto, which is a thyroid, you know, I've got these things happening where, you know, my bad cells or my good cells are thinking that they're bad cells. Anyway, the body's having a good fight with each other. It's all good. It's all okay. But, you know, you feel extreme fatigue. Anyway, so I was determined to, in Australia, we've got what we call the park run.

And I believe it's global around the world. So I thought, I need to start getting into my fitness and health. And so here I am. I've done this. And I put this photo on my Facebook page. And the pain was just the pain of that walk that I did. that took me an hour. And I've got to say, congratulations to that lovely lady that was older than me

that had an oxygen tank. She passed me, George. He passed me. And so I'm yelling from a distance. You're an inspiration. And so the following week, give it another go. And I know in the US, you've got a wonderful service provider organization called 22 too many.

And so our resolute ready community engagement liaison is in Chicago. And she just completed a run that morning for her military and first responders and dedicated for those that had passed death by suicide. And so I said, well, I'm going to do this and I'm going to participate in a walk and I'm going they hold, hold everyone in my heart as I do this walk. And she's, so Connie from, from Chicago gets on the phone and, and I'm ringing her. And she literally stayed, it was a virtual walk. And she was more mental from Chicago at 8, you know, at 8 o'clock in the morning,

when I Saturday morning here in Adelaide, South Australia. And she's taking snapshots and going, oh, that's interesting Australian habitat. What's that? I said, you're slowing me down. But then I thought, why don't we do a global, walk walk-a-thon. So coming very soon, I will share with you a quick Facebook advertisement where people can walk, you know, on the time of the 20th to the 22nd of this month, because here in Australia, October is mental health month. And we can liaise and like maybe, you know, you guys,

wherever you are around the world, you know, you can walk, you can, I don't know, go for a track. I don't know if it's too cold over there or, you know, I think of just some activity that will bring you a bit of joy and friendship and family bonding, you know, because that's what it's, and another form of connection. So I'll keep you informed about that. Also, we've just released our merchandise because we've, you know, we've created merchandise guys, yep, just to help us. So if you want to grab a T-shirt and, and look, if you can't do it on the 20th to the 22nd of October, there's lots of different Saturdays that are coming on or different times in the week. You know, if you happen to get a Resolute Ready T-shirt, throw it on, say, you know, you're from

Hawaii, you know, and you're walking for or you just want to be part of, you know, improving quality of life in the global context. Whatever, whatever you want to say, or whatever it feels in your heart while you're walking or while you're being proactive. And so it's about, yeah, bringing people together too. I think it's really, really important. Also, I'm very excited from the education component early this year. Our South Australian Minister for Education Training and Skills, Blair Boyer, I had a meeting with him and we spoke about a box on a school enrolment form. Now, we've got, you know, as the teacher in me, I've created this library of resources and I thought that we've got to connect it to education.

So I'm concerned are children. So how can we support them in schools that experience, say, service trauma or mental health, if we don't know who they are? So starting next year in South Australia, in all school enrollment for all schools, there should be a box or an identifier to identify children from ADF, Australian Defence Force families here in South Australia. I want to promote this to go not just national. I'd love to see this to go global. How can we help families if we don't know where they are,

where they're located, where the children are? And it's not about bringing negative attention to these families. It's about educating the teachers and the school counselors and those involved in providing a quality education. And we know that mental health impacts, learning and through my lived experience and dealings with schools and chairing meetings and creating modified programs so that my child could go through the system and not feel alienated but you've got to understand when children feel service trauma or they're engaged in you know I feel like you

know a lot of these young serving families that are traveling and and they move around the globe right there's got to be an impact on their education, especially the children, having to leave one school and go to another, you know, the disconnection of friendships and then having to start over again. You know, so my heart is for those children and those families as well. So that's another initiative. And if you go to my website under initiatives, you'll see the first thing that I put up there is the hub tick that's done. The second thing, we've started conversations about, you know, early intervention as far as a crisis response, emergency crisis response, and what that might look like. So there's, you know, discussions undergoing with government

dignitaries at the moment, at least to keep the discussion open and on the table. And then, obviously all the, you know, education initiatives, like we're trying to raise $13.30, I wish, $13,000 here, Australian dollars, just to engage a researcher in this space. Because once again, Resolute Ready doesn't want to reinvent the will. We want to have a look out out in the globe, if Canada, the US, wherever we are, see what already exists. in the education sphere and then formulate and bring these resources together on our virtual hub so that a researcher from the US can contact the researcher in Australia and say, wow, we're kind of doing similar work.

This is really inspiring. Can we have a discussion about how we can partner and move forward? So I just see like lots of, lots of layers of how collaboration can work on this platform. Even I've had businesses come to me and say, we're willing to employ a veteran. Here's a job description. Wonderful. I've made there is space for that as well on the virtual hub so that if you're a business and you are willing to employ veterans and first responders,

because once you come out of the forces, to be able to, can you just, imagine you spend days on and you know in and out with your mates side by side they're protecting you you're going into into ward zones where that are threatening constantly you're worried about your life but you can't you can't focus on that because you're taught to emotionally detach get in to the mission and get out and then suddenly you leave that life and you've got to become a civilian you lose your protectors you you you you're you're No one's got your back. I mean, what a scary concept, right?

What do you do with your life? You question your own purpose, your own existence and being and how are you meant to assimilate back into civilization when all you know is what you know. And so hence the virtual hub, I want that to be a connection to community. There's so many wonderful. wonderful veteran hubs and service providers on the ground, right?

If we can identify where they are earlier, can you imagine before you leave the military or first responder or a workplace and saying, I've got issues around this and then been able to search and then find them, surely that would reduce some impact of mental health and trauma? Yeah, I think that the more opportunity, there are. And the more people willing to help, the better the world will be. I think Resolute Ready is a great place for people to go and search out. And it's free. And it's clear to me, the open heart with which you're performing all of these amazing services is it's a beautiful thing. And I think that if more people

would be willing to sacrifice their time and their love to help out their loved ones, and we'd all live in a much better world. So, Lydia, I'm so thankful for all of your time today. And it's, it's an awesome conversation coming up on this hour right here. I want to, before I let you go, where can people find you? What do you have coming up and what are you excited about? All right. I'm really excited. You go to ResoluteReady.com. You've got access to the virtual hub. Please put your service, you know, submit it if you've got one. And you think you can contribute to this message of, of collaboration and saving lives really. The next thing is I would love to see this global walk.

Like I'd love to hear the stories on the ground, you know. Can you imagine I'm from Hawaii? I'm from Italy, like, you know, my firefighter from Italy, you know, I speak Italian, so I contact him. Because, you know, Lydia, we need help here too, you know? But imagine just being able to bring people together with a common cause of reducing global suicide. I think that's amazing, just raising awareness.

you know, asking the right questions and the connection is the key. And then leading them to the support is the next step. So it's, so I'm really, I'm really excited. I, um, I can't wait. Um, there's a couple of conferences too that I'm presenting at. And I think just, you know, I feel humbled if anyone wants to listen to me. Yeah. Um, beautiful message.

Yeah. And so look, I cannot thank you and your listeners for tapping in. And if you're still here, thank you. Yeah. It's amazing. I'm stoked to talk to you. I'm hopeful that people listening to this will now have another resource where they can not only reach out to but participate in.

I think that's a giant step. Yes, soresoluteReady.com, one stop, one call, one life. That's it in a nutshell. and it's really been an honor. Thank you so much for your time. I truly appreciate it. Yeah, me too. I'm really thankful.

And like I said, I think we have a lot in common. And that's where we bond on so many levels. So hang on briefly. I'll talk to you briefly afterwards, but I'm going to hang up with all our friends right here. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for hanging out with us today.

Go to the show notes. Check out Resolut Ready. If there's someone in your family who may need medical attention, you should be doing everything you can to seek out and find a professional that can help them. And for those of us that are out there struggling, just keep your head up and try to change your language, change your life. There's plenty of beautiful resources out there and people that care. And sometimes all you need is a smile.

So think about that. Ladies and gentlemen, be kind. I hope you have a beautiful day. And that's all we got. Aloha.