According to the World Health Organisation, 1 in 8 people in the world today are currently suffering from a mental health disorder. In Australia 42% of people aged between 16-85 have had a mental illness already at some point in their lives and it is further estimated that 50% of everyone alive in Australia today will suffer from at least one mental illness at some point in their lives. That’s huge!
1 in every 5 people in Australia are currently medicated for a mental illness (5.3 million people). Imagine the entire population of Sydney or Melbourne requiring medication because their minds are unwell. While mental illness might be common, we must not accept it as normal.
Jason speaks of his experience having been diagnosed with bi-polar, depression, anxiety and ADHD. At one stage being heavily medicated on mood stabilisers, anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, Jason has now been free of medication for five years.
Our gifts are revealed through pain.
We don’t believe God ever gives us more than we are capable of handling. Through our experiences, we have the potential to harness what we have learned and turn it into the gift of resilience.
Though Jason has lived a life of severe physical and sexual abuse, he states categorically “I am indebted to the life I have lived. Without it, I wouldn’t be the man I am today, nor would I know the great gifts that came through the hardship. I am a survivor”.
Today, Jason knows that though he may face many challenges in life, nothing will ever break him. What a powerful gift that is. Jason has developed the resilience to stand in the face of adversity that could never have been known, except through the pain of his youth. Would he change a thing about his childhood? Absolutely not! It made him who he is.
Go from Victim to Victor
Jason often used to joke that he never felt like a man. Even at thirty years old, he still felt like a boy. Most people would laugh and say “You’re only as old as you feel”, but that carefree attitude didn’t help.
For the greatest majority of his life Jason lived as a victim of his traumatic past and he relied on the unhealthy behaviours he had learned as a result of his childhood. As he entered early adulthood, these survival responses further isolated him from the society to which he so desperately wanted to fit in. Raised in an environment where no one could be trusted, he sought out the artificial and empty feelings that came from sex, drugs, drinking and seeking the attention and approval of others to serve as a substitute for the lack of real connection he felt to others. Without a solid identity in knowing who he was, he found himself being led to dark paths.
When Jason made the decision to take responsibility for his actions and deciding to live to a higher standard, everything changed. Today, Jason no longer feels like a boy but has stepped into his role as a man.
Jason’s account will inspire people from all walks of life to live to their fullest potential regardless of their past. Jason calls us all to go make the choice to go from victim to victor!
Many of the circumstances of our lives that have formed our identity, were totally beyond our control. Making peace with the pain from our past is necessary to living a fulfilling future tomorrow. Jason knows the necessity of the individual’s responsibility to first look in the mirror when it comes to the journey of healing.
Like a computer with a virus, a hacked computer will eventually cause the operating system to malfunction, without any outside influence. Unresolved trauma and unforgiveness work like the virus inside our soul. Unresolved, we will eventually destroy ourselves.
Jason shares in his unbelievable account, how he was set on a dangerous and destructive path that almost cost him his life (many times over). At a certain point he came to a fork in the road and he spent his 30th birthday in rehab. At rock bottom, he was faced with two options; prison or dead. Neither were acceptable options for a survivor like Jason, so, he took the third option – change!
Deciding he would no longer be bound to the life he was given, he instead, broke free from the cycles of self-destruction and self-sabotage, living a life that would inspire others to take action.
We have all been given a life, an identity and a past. The question remains, what life will we choose?
Today, our young people are navigating an unchartered world unlike anything we have ever seen before, and they are faced with unprecedented challenges that no prior generation on earth has had to experience.
We believe it is our responsibility as good stewards to educate our young people by arming them with the necessary tools required to make wise and healthy decisions that could keep them from danger. While Jason’s account of coming back out of the flames is indeed miraculous, it is the exception rather than the rule. Most who begin similar journeys will never untangle themselves from the countless life-ending destinations that await today’s vulnerable youth. There are severe and tragic consequences waiting for those that stray from the path.
We believe prevention is always better than cure.
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