Ellie Hodges :: Lived Experience Speaker, Consultant & Activist in Adelaide, South Australia | Medical and health

Ellie Hodges :: Lived Experience Speaker, Consultant & Activist

Locality: Adelaide, South Australia

Address: 71 Angas St 5000 Adelaide, SA, Australia

Website: http://elliehodges.com

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• Medical and health
• Consultation agency
• Mental health service

24.01.2022 Reminder for the week ahead. This is your strength, to be all of who you are. You doing this allows others to do it too. Ellie. x

24.01.2022 Another Sunday, another outside fire. Hubby cooking risotto on a kettle BBQ because kitchen renovations have been delayed and we have no inside means to cook other than a toaster or a microwave (apparently playing on the roof and with electricity isn't a good idea in windy rainy hills weather, which it has been a week of). Our Molly cat completely changing personality now that he is our last furry friend, strange and lovely all at once. Childhood friendships growing and being... nurtured by our little people. This is our beautiful right now. Beauty is everywhere. Within us and around the world. I don't want to take it for granted. I when you beauty hunt with me. What beauty are you noticing right now? One thing, three or more. It all matters. Ellie. x

24.01.2022 Five beautiful things right now: the furry friends we invite into our lives and add so much; soft cuddles always on offer ... well sometimes if we are speaking about felines; the 'annoying' habits of said pets that make them who they are; how quickly things can change; 16 years with this guy, he was my favourite. Our Max. Beauty is everywhere. Within us and around the world. I don't want to take it for granted. I when you beauty hunt with me. What beauty are you noticing ri...ght now? One thing, three or more. It all matters. Ellie. x

23.01.2022 Six beautiful things right now: my favourite carol up LOUD (youtu.be/5l1CS0Jhk90); remembering being at carols by candlelight during our Melbourne trip one year ago today; advent craft and other doing activities that extends Christmas to 25 days of excitement; my fave three and I having quality time together; a mega work year beyond expectation; and finally hanging the elephant painting I bought just over a year ago when our renovations started, still not all done but nearly ...there. Beauty is everywhere. Within us and around the world. I don't want to take it for granted. I when you beauty hunt with me. What beauty are you noticing right now? One thing, three or more. It all matters. Ellie. x

22.01.2022 'I remember him saying, 'Don't make a sound.' Well, hear me now, using my voice amongst a chorus of voices that will not be silenced' [Grace Tame] Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. ... May we raise them May we support, honour and uplift them. #LetHerSpeak Ellie. x

22.01.2022 2020 -> 2021: 'We can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it' [Arundhati Roy] Ellie.

22.01.2022 It's what we do. This is recovery, healing and living well despite. Ellie. x

21.01.2022 Five beautiful things right now: Misters percussion love; stormy Sunday late afternoons; karate tournament pride for our girl; Munch and I teaching ourselves ukulele; cheese with fig bread for dinner on Friday being a great kick-off to the weekend. Beauty is everywhere. Within us and around the world. I don't want to take it for granted. I when you beauty hunt with me. What beauty are you noticing right now? One thing, three or more. It all matters.... Ellie. x

19.01.2022 Some words to say to do that thing you aren't sure you can do. Yaas!! Ellie. x

18.01.2022 A reminder for the week ahead, it's ok to have needs and actively address them ourselves. If we don't, who will. This week I am focusing on more rest/sleep and deeper breathing. You? Ellie. x

18.01.2022 A little reminder for you, in case you haven't been feeling it lately. Ellie. x

17.01.2022 We can be all of the things. What is judged as 'bad', and what is judged as 'good'. We are complex, even contradictory. That is our being human. It is how we (un)become. We are always worthy. Ellie. x

16.01.2022 A reminder for the week ahead. Stop saying sorry so damn much! Women and people who have been hurt by others seem to be sorry for a lot, even for existing. Or we justify who we are and what we do. Let's not diminish ourselves, over explain or be apologetic for being here taking up space and having needs. And if you need to say something, what about thank you? Instead of 'sorry I exist' we could say 'thanks for being here with me', instead of 'sorry I'm late' say 'thanks for waiting'. And there is always sorry-not-sorry because often we say it unthinkingly when its not even relevant or anything to be sorry for. Soz for that. Ellie. x

15.01.2022 This photo came up on my fb memories. A reminder of a Conference in NZ I attended in 2016. It serves as a starting point reminder, yet also absolutely was not the start, of the 'work' I now do. This flight led me to my first immersion in the lived experience space. The oxygen that fanned the flames of being a part of the change for how distress, trauma and injustice ('mental health issues') are understood and responded to in SA. Of trying to take on 'the system'. 4 years lat...er there is a funded organisation that is bigger than me, a growing community and opportunities rumbling away in the background. This is the hardest work I have ever done. Personally. Professionally. Socio-politically. I still have days where it would be easier to walk away and leave it for others to do. Yet I stay; again and again. Held up by others, following the call. Knowing to my core that the way things are currently done is just not ok. I can't not do this stuff. Ellie. x

13.01.2022 A Leunig drawing to express how happy I am that it is Friday. Have a day everyone. Ellie. x

13.01.2022 'This day tells us everything we need to know I choose not to celebrate what is called Australia Day. I have wrestled with the idea. I recognise this country's remarkable achievements and how it has been a haven for those fleeing the worst of the world. I am grateful to those of us who have struggled and sacrificed to build this country. But I ask just one question: how can a nation in good conscience mark its national day on the date this land was stolen from the First Peoples?' [Stan Grant]

12.01.2022 Five beautiful things right now: delicious pumpkin eggplant curry with coconut sambol; growing friendships; doing things anyway; mummy-daughter movie dates; and sun basking with Billy our Beardy. Beauty is everywhere. Within us and around the world. I don't want to take it for granted. I when you beauty hunt with me. What beauty are you noticing right now? One thing, three or more. It all matters.... Ellie. x

12.01.2022 'Finding yourself is actually returning to yourself. An unlearning, an excavation, a remembering who you were before the world got its hands on you'. Yes! [Card by Emily McDowell] Ellie. x

11.01.2022 A reminder for the week ahead. If you or someone you know is feeling the brunt of life right now, there are things we can do. Connect. Speak/type/text. Reach in. Provide options. Start, even with a little thing. Be there. It matters. This is recovery, healing and living well despite. Ellie. x

10.01.2022 What does one do after a launch event for a BIG work project that went without a hitch? I don't know the standard response, but mine is to sit and eat an almond croissant! Ellie.

08.01.2022 I went up to the roof of our building to work. It provided space to appreciate what life has become, all that I never thought was possible for me. To be content. To be ok. To be able to stay in a moment. Close to calm. Safe-enough. This is recovery, healing and living well despite. Ellie. x

07.01.2022 'I wish I could separate trauma from politics, but as long as we continue to live in denial and treat only trauma while ignoring its origins, we are bound to fail. In today's world your ZIP code, even more than your genetic code, determines whether you will lead a safe and healthy life. People's income, family structure, housing, employment, and educational opportunities not only affect their risk of developing traumatic stress but also their access to effective help to address it. Poverty, unemployment, inferior schools, social isolation, widespread availability of guns, and substandard housing all are breeding grounds for trauma. Trauma breeds further trauma; hurt people hurt other people' [Bessel Van Der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score]

07.01.2022 An ode to cats. Particularly Sam who I knew growing up for 20 years and Max cat who we said a final goodbye to last week after 16 years. Molly is still going strong at 15. Meow. Ellie. x

06.01.2022 Reminder for the week ahead. A lot of us talk to ourselves worse than we would ever dare talk to anyone else. Let's change that. Suggestions below. Ellie. x

06.01.2022 It has been a while since I shared an intro and info about myself. I know there have been some new people lately as well. So, welcome everyone, I am so glad you are here. This is who I am, what I stand for and the support I offer. ...... I am Ellie Hodges; a Lived Experience Advisor, Ambassador & Counsellor based in Adelaide. As someone who draws on my personal experiences professionally I am not afraid to say that I have lived through mental health issues and difficult childhood experiences. I am also not afraid to say that all of these combined make me a better counsellor and support person, supervisor, trainer, consultant, speaker and advocate. I specialise in what I have lived myself food, weight, body issues; anxiety; and trauma. Which at the heart of it is about how we live beyond experiences that tear at our souls and leave us in a wilderness not of our choosing. It’s supporting people to find and have a voice in their own lives within a society and systems that often add to the invalidation and harm we experience. More often than not because life experiences and distress are individualised and issues of social justice and power imbalance are under-acknowledged or disregarded. Another thing I am not afraid to say is that I want systemic change for the way that mental health issues are understood and supported in this State (SA), our Country (Australia) and worldwide. I do not believe that what is currently available is adequate or appropriate. Rather than having this opinion on the sidelines I am actively involved in imagining and driving change. We have to do better. I hold ultimate hope for the people I work with and advocate for. I do not give up. Our experiences do not need to define us, we can live in ways that honour and allow us to be who we really are. The first step can be the hardest until the next hardest one after it. We don’t need to do it alone. ... If you want to know more about me or working together - counselling (face-to-face and online), mindfulness sessions, supervision and consultancy - head over to elliehodges.com. ellie. x

05.01.2022 Something to remember when people tell you who they are and the experiences they have had. Humbly listen. Don't invalidate or dismiss. Recognise how generous they are being. Check your privilege and assumptions. Centre humanity and connection. Hear them; justly. This can change lives ... and the world. Ellie. x

04.01.2022 So much this! I am awful at staying in touch with people [outside of work]. Out of sight is definitely not out of mind. Probably seems that way though. My life world of connections has shrunk the bigger my work world has become. Introvert exhaustion from giving. Prioritising my favourite three so that they get a better me. The thinking of 'needing' to send a reconnecting text becomes an electric shock to my brain. Which I then avoid and amplify. Thankfully most people 'get' ...this. And now I have a new way of thinking about it, the elephant graveyard of messages and not-acted-upon-thoughts. Elephants have amazing memories. When they wander past a fallen family member they stop and honour them. This is what I am doing. We will meet/text/call [see each other] again. Ellie. x

04.01.2022 This was a really freaking hard thing to learn. Being here, now. In all my mess, with me. It changes so much though. This is recovery, healing and living well despite. Ellie. x

03.01.2022 Going with it. Life. This is recovery, healing and living well despite. Ellie. x

03.01.2022 Healing comes from people sitting with us. Conveying through their presence and care that they are with us. That they can sit with pain and hurt and heartache and grief and rage and our (un)becoming. That they can be ok with not knowing, and just be with. We feel the truth of what they offer, the unspoken power of someone holding hope when it is absent/distant within ourselves, of believing we are worthy of the space we fill in the world. That we are not alone. That we are lo...ved. That we can and will endure. These are the things we need when we are not ok. This is how we save lives. Ellie. x Art by Leonie Dawson.

02.01.2022 'Brave is condescending. It is shame repackaged as respect. Unwrap the words, and you’ll feel their sting. Instead of brave, I’d rather be thought of as kind. Thoughtful. Fierce. I’d rather any other word because then it feels as though you are listening. Not just hearing about an illness and making a judgment'

01.01.2022 Brene captured it well today. Tough and tender. Excited and scared. Brave and afraid. The tensions of love. Life. This is recovery, healing and living well despite. Ellie. x