My name's Jasmine, I'm 19 years old and I live in French's Forrest. My journey began when I began high school
and I went into Year 7 and it was a really big thing for me. During the first year, while
I was at that school, I started to experience what I now know is anxiety. It started to really
trouble me and I didn't know how to speak to anyone about it because I'd never been
taught how to reach out. The struggles that I was having, that I couldn't identify led
me to become quite sad and depressed. 

A few of my friends started to ask if I was okay, and a couple of teachers and it was actually during a 
conversation with one of my teachers
who had let me know that she was a bit concerned about me and had noticed some changes in me,
that I wasn't seeming to be smiling that much anymore and came to school really tired because

I hadn't been able to sleep because of worrying over and over and she suggested I look at
a website called ReachOut that she'd heard about and that she knew other students had
used and had helped them so that's when things started to turn around for me. It was a massive
release for me to find these things and find that it was normal and it happens to other
people, people like me. That's when I found out about ways to get help. My journey didn't
end there, I still struggled with depression and anxiety, and it went on for a little while
but from the time I first pulled up one of ReachOut's fact sheets and read about the
forums and how it happens and it's okay, I might have still struggled but it was great
that I never felt completely alone.