If you’ve called Afea recently, you may have spoken to our concierge, Archna. She came to us in an unusual way. Before Archna started working with us… she was one of our clients! Here Archna explains how Afea helped her grow into a confident and balanced person.

How I found Afea

I didn’t think I needed support as I’d always done everything on my own. I’d been to uni, I’d lived on my own, I thought I was fine.

But looking back, I wasn’t in a great place. I was suffering from pretty severe anxiety and depression. It got to where I couldn’t even go to the local grocery store because I was too scared. My anxiety had become debilitating.

My friend introduced me to Afea two years ago. She reminded me it’s often the people who can’t ask for help who need it the most.

It was so refreshing to let down my guard and take away all the biases I had around asking for help.

How Afea helped me

I started with a few support services to help me get out and about. Just having someone to hold your hand can help show you that the world isn’t such a scary place. The Afea carers know they can’t force someone to change. Their secret is shining the guiding light so you can see things more clearly.

Over time, my entire perspective changed. I realised that I’d built things up to be so big in my mind that I couldn’t find a way out of my thoughts.

The combination of seeing a psychologist, taking medication for a short amount of time and my Afea carers helped me realise I can do anything I want to do. By having someone right there at side, they showed me I could do it.

How things have changed

My path has gone in a completely different direction over the past two years. I went from being too scared to leave the house to enrolling in TAFE courses because I want to learn more. I recently completed a health administration course, and I just enrolled in a certificate in pathology collection.

I’ve even had a career change. I worked for years in the fitness industry, but I had lost interest in it. I recently started a new job…. at Afea! That’s right, I’ve gone from receiving Afea services to working at Afea.

I’m a concierge, which means I answer phones and make sure clients and carers receive the help they need. Working at Afea has completely broadened my horizons and opened my mind up to other peoples’ way of thinking.

What the future looks like

Two years ago, I was living life in survival mode. Getting by, scraping through. Now I’ve learnt life shouldn’t be like that. I’m learning to appreciate things and live my life in the moment.

There are days when I get fearful, but I’m more attuned to those feelings and know how to deal with it in a more abundant way. That’s the fundamental difference for me.

I know those feelings are going to arise since we’re all human. But I can manage it a lot better because I now have confidence in myself.