We’ve Got Pain All Wrong

[8 min read]

Pain can mean many different things for each of us, and can include both physical sensations as well as emotional or psychological experiences. In this post I’ll focus on the physical sensation we get when we say ‘my leg hurts’. We all experience pain during our lifetime – no human can avoid it.

Despite how universal pain is, our capacity to describe and communicate about it is generally limited. Even medical professionals often resort to the simplified and useless request to rate our pain from 1-10 as the only measurement or decipherment of pain.

This common practice has been criticised by people with chronic illnesses, pain and disabilities. Some of the arguments against its use is the oversimplification of a complex phenomena that includes our physical, social, emotional and psychological world. Our experience and perception of pain are also influenced by our history, genetic makeup and social circumstances, amongst other factors. It is a multidimensional experience. Also, your 10 out of 10 is different from my 10 out of 10.

Take for instance the pain a birthing person experiences as they push out a baby from their body. It can include intense pressure, cramps, burning, stretching, sharp knives-like pulses and many other sensations. A number on a 1-10 scale does not do this experience justice. We also know that pain perception is impacted by anxiety, how we label the pain, our attitude to it, and many other factors that are often missed in modern Western understanding of pain.

This inadequate language, understanding and communication of pain means the way we respond to it can also be inadequate, ineffective or even harmful. Pain is simply labeled as Bad, and categorised as something that is undesirable, unattractive and unnatural, to be cured if possible, or at least halted.

This idea misses how pain helps us avoid injury, recover from previous traumas and indicate our bodies’ functioning. In some contexts pain is thought of as something to ‘push through’ and ignore in order to reach some external goal, like running a marathon. In cases of chronic pain, like mine, we think of pain again as something to ‘push through’.

The conclusion many of us get to is that pain is nothing to concentrate on – it is too painful to think about our pain, let alone explore it! What we end up doing is neglecting our pain.

We may dissociate to cope with extreme levels of pain, or use alcohol or drugs to numb it.Many of us have been told our pain isn’t so bad, or that it will pass by your wedding day, or worse of all – that it isn’t real. No wonder we have such a fraught relationship with pain.

What’s the issue then?

Having a fraught relationship with pain has an ironic impact on our body, mind, and our overall wellbeing.

Because we fear pain, we often get a stress or even a stress-survival response in our body when it happens. The fight/flight/freeze response that gets triggered by pain generates stress hormones that are damaging to our body in the long term, and prevent us from using our complex thinking capacities.

When in pain our brain is yelling DANGER DANGER DANGER at pain signals that may not by themselves be so dangerous.

When we’re so distressed, we struggle to regulate our feelings. We may lash out at others we care about, or use substances, gamble, or smoke – or do anything that distracts or numbs our intense emotional reaction and our physical pain. In short – seeing pain as something catastrophic and Bad, leaves us less choice over our actions when we’re feeling it.

The distress by our pain can even perpetuate our pain experience, making our perception to pain heightened.

Another way our problematic relationship with pain impacts our lives is a sense of isolation. Have you ever had the thought ‘No one has ever experienced pain like this before’? I have.

Many people who feel pain tend to also feel that they’re the only one going through that. Because we don’t talk about it, it seems like everyone else is living pain-free, which isn’t the case. This isolation can make us less likely to engage with others or in activities that will help us deal with the pain, or to live the meaningful life that we deserve. This is often exacerbated by real physical need to rest our hurting body parts, which often means we’re alone.

Ignoring the pain, something that many of us are told is a tough, cool, or even necessary thing to do, means that we actually end up trying to push it down. We spend a lot of energy blocking out pain signals from our body. This creates a lot of exhaustion and even dissociation.

The alternative

I was dissatisfied with the way my pain and I were relating to each other. I was tired of feeling angry, frustrated, and on the verge of tears when pain would flare up. I decided to Kultivate some alternatives – of more helpful ways to cope with pain.

Instead of seeing myself as a failure when I couldn’t walk, I gave myself permission to listen to my body. I changed the way I view mobility aids, and now see them as something to help me live the life I want, alongside my pain.

This is not to say that pain should be dismissed by ourselves or others – quite the contrary. Pain should be listened to, attended to, just like any other part of us. Acknowledging that we’re in pain, and giving ourselves kindness through it, can be our first step towards a better life.

We can also change the way we respond to others’ pains. Instead of viewing people as either ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’, we can understand that we all experience pain, at some points in our lives, albeit our differences. We can treat others who are in pain with kindness and empathy. Instead of letting pain get in the way of connection, we can embraec it as a connecting link.

Tips for getting started

Practical steps you can take towards Kultivating a better relationship with pain. Use this with a loved one or yourself:

Ask about pain – e.g. How’s your body been feeling lately?
Validate pain – e.g. That sounds painful
Ask how you can stay connected through the pain – e.g. Can we change our plans to still include you?
Ask what the person needs – e.g. What might help feel more grounded in this moment?

Practicing these steps with myself, and with people I care about, has helped me transform the way I experience pain. Now I sit down, focus on my breath, and listen to my pain like it is music. All I want is for there to be seating, so I can sit down and concentrate on the music – outside and within.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder & Director

Give back without spending a cent

[4 min read]

Many people ask me how they can make a difference to the lives of disabled people. Becoming a better ally to the disability community is something anyone can do. It doesn’t take a huge investment of time, money or effort. You can give back by carrying some of the weight of an ableist society – through educating yourself, making mindful choices and educating others.

We live in a society filled with ableism, which is the discrimination and marginalisation of people based on oppressive systems that abnormalises bodies and minds. In other words, ableism in the unjust discrimination and prejudice against disabled people. Ableism is universal, although it has distinct charachteristics in differing parts of the world, different classes, races and genders.

In order to dismantle ableism, we need to do active, deliberate work, which is often called advocacy. Doing this work comes with a burden, which is heavy. Most disability and justice advocates are disabled people themselves, although I believe that we are all responsible for carrying the burden of an ableist society, and to dismantle ableist systems and ideas. It is our human responsibility to take care of each other and make sure everyone can not only survive, but thrive in our communities.

To help carry this burden, here are a few things you can try to help disabled people in your community:

Educate yourself from disabled people themselves – about what it means to live with a disability, what kind of barriers we face every day – in attitudes, physical spaces, the medical system, in our social groups. You can do this through reading own voices books, blogs, articles, essays and social media content. Listen to music written and performed by disabled musicians. Watch movies and series written and/or produced by disabled people. Listen to a podcast hosted by disabled people. Search for disability stories wherever you get entertained.

Think of disability as the common, normal experience that it is. Commit to thinking from this lens when you interact with people.
Call out ableism – Think of access when you visit public places. Consider asking about accessibility before your visit any venue – and put your money into accessible venues. Ask yourself how accessible is your favorite coffee shop or your workplace, and speak up when you notice inaccessibility. You can do this by speaking with management of businesses, writing to your local government representative, or making a complaint.
Learn about and talk to family and friends about ableist slurs – notice when you use ableist slurs, and research alternatives to use.
Make your social media posts accessible – start with an image descriptions for your pics, captions for your video, and high colour contrasts for your text.
Check in with your disabled friends – ask about how they’re doing, and if you have capacity, ask about how you can help carry some of their burden. For example, you can offer to check if a venue is accessible before meeting, or do some research about support options they are seeking.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder & Director

I exercise sometimes, and that is OK

[3 min read]

At the moment my life is too busy, I can admit it. There are way more things that I want and need to do than time available to do them. One of those things that I both want and need to do is exercise. We all know its benefits for our physical and mental health, and for me it also helps my pain and stability.

But I cannot do as much exercise as I would like to do or probably should do. And I have decided it is ok. Giving myself slack is not easy, nor is it the same as giving up. Rather, deciding that what I manage to do is good enough, because there are other priorities in my life that also need attending to.

Last week for example I only managed to formally exercise twice: once in my clinical Pilates class and another late evening session at the gym. If you would ask ‘professionals’ or even google, you will undoubtedly find that this amount is insufficient. But I also am a person who requires a good amount of sleep to function, and my youngest is still awake at all hours. That means that often when the kids are finally in bed at about 8pm, I am usually too exhausted to do the exercises I should do.

Another important factor is that I also want to prioritise things I love doing such as writing, organising things in the house, spending time with my children, or speaking to a friend. With working and trying to finish the requirement for my psychology registration, with managing my business, with writing creatively, with connecting with communities, with keeping in touch with family overseas and playdates, there is not much time left to spare.

A few years ago two exercise sessions in a week would have become a source of self-criticism or even self-loathing. But nowadays I decide to use this as a lens through which to examine my life, to consider what is important to me, and to put aside expectations.

I did not exercise this weekend, but I spent time with my children, I visited a family member in pain, I ate good food, I laughed and I read beautiful words. I also rested, laughed and reminisced about beautiful happy memories. That is enough.

As we say in the disability community, rest is radical.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder & Director

How to avoid ableist slurs

[4 min read]

CW: ableist slurs, ableism, ignorance. Note: Slurs are censored throughout this post in respect to people who may be affected.

As a kid my classmates’ favourites slurs to use against me was crip*. This would be followed by a laugh from this kid, and sometimes those around him too.

An ableist slur is a word or a phrase used degradingly to exclude, marginalise and discriminate against disabled people.

Today I still hear many ableist slurs around me, most often used by people who are unaware of the impact this can have on us as disabled people. When any person hears derogatory language used about them or their characteristics, it is inevitable that they internalise such damaging beliefs, such as that they’re not good enough.

Why should you care?

Ableist slurs are one tool by which society deems different bodies and minds as subhuman, therefore leaving the power outside the hands of disabled people. Using ableist slurs reinforces the status quo of disabled people being marginalised, excluded, shamed and discriminated against in our society. Ableist slurs therefore, work to further disable people with bodily impairments, cognitive difference, or who are otherwise considered “nontypical.

Historically, people who have been labelled with words such as crip*, craz* or blind have been ostracised, abused, neglected and killed. Unfortunately, that still happens under our watch to disabled children and adults in Australia and beyond.

Almost one in five Australians live with a disability, many of these are invisible or dynamic, so you wouldn’t be able to tell simply by looking at a person. If you believe everyone deserves to develop a healthy sense of self and to be included in our society, then avoiding ableist slurs is a simple way to contribute.

How to avoid ableist slurs?

Ask yourself: Does this word relate to a bodily/cognitive/information processing or other impairment? Has this word been used as a negative description of something (an object, person, behaviour etc)? Has this word been historically used to shame or dehumanise people? What context am I using this word in? Would I use this word if a person with the associated impairment was in the room?
If in doubt, be cautious and choose an alternative word.
Learn from the disability community and other marginalised communities about what is considered a slur.
Find alternatives and practice using them – you can find a list of slurs and alternatives on the Austic Hoya blog here.
Reclaiming disability language is something only the disability community can do. Reclaiming happens when a marginalised group owns back a perviously degrading phrase and creates new meaning to it by purposefully using it. For instance, using the word “disabled” as a way to express one’s feeling of being disabled by society or affiliation with the disability community.
Ask instead of assume – research words you commonly use and check with the disability community and our resources if your language is considered ableist.
Reflect – if you think you may have used ableist language, reflect on your choice of words, apologise if you did, and commit to unlearning your biases.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder & Director

The Kultivate Story

When facilitating training I often say the medical model has failed disabled people. I know this not from textbooks, but from my own skin. The scars on my leg and psyche tell this story.

For most of my life, like so many other disabled people, I have been fighting to get appropriate healthcare. I went through a full 18 operations before my 17th birthday, to which I consented to none. I’m here to change the way we think about healthcare for disabled people.

I founded Kultivate to provide wellbeing support and education that is based on disability justice, and uses an anti-oppression approach. This means we prioritise our clients experiences, needs and goals. It also means working to unlearn our biases and relearn in order to work in a way that tackles discrimination and biases in our systems.

I can’t promise to always get it right, but I guarantee I will continue to learn and improve every day.

Working alongside fellow disabled adults on their mental health and overall wellbeing is a privilege and my passion. It is my small way of helping disabled people live their best life.

When I was a kid I had often thought that I was the only one who felt like I did – different, excluded, sad about not fitting in. Now I get to be there for other disabled people, be a part of a disabled community and practise my allyship as a psychologist. Every. Single. Day.

That’s why I have launched Kultivate. Kultivate’s purpose is to provide wellbeing, equity and inclusion support and education that is lived-experience based and rooted in disability justice and an anti-oppression approach.

This means in Kultivate, we centre the voices and experiences of disabled and multiple marginalised people. All my clients are the experts in their life and body, and I’m here to help.

My hope is that Kultivate will become the place any person who wants to Kultivate wellbeing, inclusion, and equity can go to. Kultivate will be the place where disabled people are safe because their voices, goals, and needs are our top priority. We honour that because disabled safety and wellbeing, and equitable healthcare is something everybody deserves.

If you are a disabled person seeking support for your social and emotional wellbeing, mental health support, or peer and creative support, please reach out to us. We currently offer psychological therapy and peer support and education groups. If there is something you’re after and we don’t yet offer it, please also let us know. We aim to grow to meet your needs.

If you are a professional working with disabled people, check out our online educational content, and our training and workshops we can tailor to your organisation’s needs.

With gratitude to the disability community, my friends and family, who have helped me get here.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder & Director

Pain, Stigma & Gender in Healthcare

[3 minutes read]

I recently read Pain and Prejudice by Gabrielle Jackson and found it illuminating and enraging. The book is a combination of memoir and research-based social and medical criticism, and it left me horrified yet determined.

I was especially struck by the huge gaps in medical research about and with females and women. Learning about how the male mind-body has been rendered prototype by our medical system, makes one question a lot about their training.

Pain and Prejudice thoroughly exposes the history of hysteria, revealing how medicine in general, and psychiatry in particular, has weaponized women’s and female diagnoses over generations.

This history has initially brought sadness to my gut, a twisting discomfort and heaviness about all those people over the history who have been gaslit, ignored, institutionalised, and abused, due to their mind-bodies.

I am left with more than sadness though, because as a disabled psychologist I feel a responsibility, which is also my great privilege, to change how we do healthcare.

After reading Pain and Prejudice I also read Laura Pettenuzzo’s short memoir piece about BPD which reveals how medical stigma affects disabled women, especially when they have a BPD diagnosis.

We can no longer accept healthcare that treats any human as less than. We must demand equitable healthcare for everyone. As both Pain and Prejudice and Pettenuzzo’s piece demonstrate, women and girls’ conditions have been, and still are, widely ignored and weaponised.

Although we don’t have enough research yet to support many people who experience conditions such as endometriosis and ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, we sure have enough humanity to do our very best to try.

For me, this means constantly examining my unconscious biases, and avoiding generalisations in support and education. It means questioning research that I read, searching for and always amplifying living and lived experiences. It means I look at everything with a question mark – asking why people are experiencing their lives and bodies, and how they would like things to change.

Practising healthcare in a non-judgemental, and critical thinking manner, is every health and allied health professional’s responsibility. As practitioners, we have the power to change the unjust history of stigma, gender and pain.

I continue to work every day to make Kultivate the safe place you deserve. For those of us who have been excluded from medical treatment, research and society as a whole, there is nothing more important than knowing we are safe.

My greatest dream is for every person to feel safe to get their needs met. Everyone deserves to thrive.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder & Director

Make the most of the online disability community

[4 minutes read]

A few of my clients recently tolds me about the negative experiences they had with other disabled people, mostly online. The online space is filled with wonderful things and people, but it is also, just like our real world, filled with ableism, trauma and internalised ableism.

My personal experience with the disability community has been dotted with wonderful moments of joy, acceptance, understanding, camaraderie, validation, and bonding, while sprinkled with the exposure to internalised ableism, trauma dumping, inspiration porn, anger, and even bullying.

It took me a few years to learn how to manage the complexity of the online disability space. I am still learning of course, especially within the rapidly changing online world, yet the following tips can be useful as a guide for any online space you are in or considering joining.

Spot the ableism – before or upon joining an online space or group, spend some time observing the content others are creating or sharing. Ableism without warning, or internalised ableism that goes unacknowledged, are red flags. For instance, I recommend staying away from a group filled with people sharing their grief about their children being disabled.

Search for balance – online (just like physical) spaces for disabled people should have some balance between the hard stuff like discrimination with the beautiful stuff like disabled pride or joy.

Check who has created and manages the space – online spaces created by and for disabled people are more likely to be useful for fellow disabled people. They are more likely to be balanced, and add value to your disabled life.

Set yourself some guiding principles – to manage the ableism you inevitably will come across. For instance, avoid looking at particular groups after dark, to make sure you don’t get intense emotional responses before bedtime. Other principles you can consider are calling out ableism only when you have available support through the day to debrief.

Know when to leave – give yourself permission to leave a space at any time if it stops being useful for your wellbeing. There is nothing wrong with unfollowing someone or leaving a group that makes you feel worse or is contributing to your internalised ableism for instance. It is useful to think about the big picture. If you leave most spaces, it may be useful to search for an alternative to make sure you stay connected and well.

The online space has given so many of us the ability to connect with fellow disabled people, to learn about ableism, find our voice, form friendships and nurture our special interests.

If you are looking for a safe and nurturing space to connect with other disabled people, check out our groups here and register your interest to join the next one.

You deserve to feel safe and connected, no matter where you are.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder & Director

Disability adjustment & you

By Liel Bridgford [3 minutes read]

Is it normal to be anxious or depressed when you live with disability or when you just received a new diagnosis or experience a relapse?

*[a white disabled person traveling in their wheelchair on a bike path on a road, their crutches connected to the back of the chair, as they’re heading towards a pedestrian crossing.]*

It’s a really understandable to be sad and angry, confused or anxious. But, you don’t have to feel like that forever.

You can reach a point where you can live well with disability. It is possible to be happy and adjusted while living with disability.

To get there, you can work on practicing acceptance. This starts with talking about how you feel, with allowing yourself to experience the grief and shock with someone that you feel safe with.

It is also normal for grief responses to return when we experience a relapse, or new symptoms or receive an additional diagnosis. If this happens for you, it doesn’t mean you are back in ‘square one’ or will never be happy again. All it means is that you have a natural response to a difficult situation, while living in an ableist society that reinforces your internalised ableism.

Each time a response like this appears, practice making room for it, creating art with it, talking about it and practice self-compassion to help get through this difficult time. Self-compassionate actions can include anything from a positive mantra like ‘I’m here for myself’, to taking time off responsibilties, to eating your favourite snack.

Learning disability acceptance tools and practicing regularly will help you adjust to changes more effectively and live more meaningfully – no matter your diagnoses, no matter your symptoms.

Having the right support around you is also key. Take your time to think about what you need, what you are missing and reach out whenever possible. Social connections, finding your people and having the right help for your needs are also essential for your social and emotional wellbeing. You can start by reaching out to a GP, friend, or online support groups for disabled people.

Eventually you can reach a point of living well and meaningfully with disability. You most definitely deserve to.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder & Director

International Day of People With Disability

By Liel Bridgford [4 min read]

On December 3rd 2024 I spoke in front of an awaiting audience my favourite topic – mental health of people with disability. It was the perfect way to celebrate International Day of People With Disability.

This was my first Key Note speech and the welcome I received from the hosts at St John of God Accord was phenomenal.

Here is a summary of my speech:

“I was an angry child. I was in my late twenties when I finally made the connection between being an unheard disabled kid and my persistent anger.

We get told by the society we live in, that we cannot possibly be well if we’re disabled.

But disabled people experience discrimination in our daily life and this of course impacts our quality of life and mental health.

Mental ill health is not our destiny. We often have poorer mental health because we live in a world that isn’t built for us.

The question that needs answering is not how can we live well with disability but how can we live well in an ableist world?

If we want to improve the lives and mental wellbeing of disabled people we need to change the world.

By the world I mean the society we live in, to become equitable and safe for every body and every mind.

But, while we are working towards changing the world, we also need individual support – so that we each live well in a world that isn’t built for us.

So how do we thrive with our mental wellbeing in this world? There are three pillars I’m suggesting we focus on.

The first pillar is formal support.

This support can include health, community and other professionals, and it needs to focus on removing barriers to participate equitably in society and thrive.

The support should aim to increase our quality of life – not focussing solely on our limitations, but consider our personal goals, dreams, aspirations and our strengths.

The second pillar of living well and improving our mental health as disabled people is social connections.

Finding our people can be hard. Sometimes even being around others is difficult, and the spaces people spend time in are often inaccessible.

When I was growing up, I did have friends. But there was so much all my friends did that I couldn’t do. And it left me feeling like an outsider.

I believe that we need social connections both within and outside the disability community. When we pretend like we don’t belong to the disability community, we are feeding into our internalised stigma. We also miss out on opportunities to learn, to laugh, to heal.

I often hear in my practice: ‘People don’t get it’.

This is where the third pillar for mental wellbeing comes in – engage better.

This pillar helps us build and sustain the first two pillars and our mental wellbeing overall. Engaging better is about improving our skills that lift our wellbeing.

I’m going to tell you about the skills I believe are most important, which is why I called them the building blocks of the third pillar.

Asking for help is the first building block of engaging better.

As disabled people, we need to ask for help so much more because we live in a society that doesn’t automatically accommodate our needs.

The second building block of engaging better is communication.Not only we may struggle with communication because of our disability experience, but as disabled people we need to have better communication skills than non-disabled people.

Our third building block for engaging better is acceptance. It’s about learning how to be uncomfortable, and at the same time, be ok.

The fourth building block is managing disability tax. We need to manage and address disability tax to make sure we minimise it as much as possible, manage our time the best we can, and get the supports we need to ensure we still have space for meaning and purpose.

The fifth building block of engaging better, which is my favourite, is meaning and purpose. To optimise our mental health we want to experience joy, self confidence and positive emotions. [2] We need to do things that matter to us, to behave in a way that makes us feel proud.

The next building block in the engage better pillar is self compassion. To best live through all of these external and internal challenges, and look after our mental wellbeing, we need self-compassion.

The final building block we need to mention, and I’m going to put it at the very bottom of the pillar, because without it, we can really struggle with all of those skills.

A crucial building block in engaging better to improve our mental wellbeing, is understanding and managing our internalised ableism.

Internalised ableism is the common denominator that gets in our way to practice all of these! Without managing this, you can see how the pillar kind of falls down.

Internalised ableism is the collection of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are rooted in the discrimination and prejudice against disabled people.

When we learn to recognise, name, and manage our own unique collection, it makes it possible to be more compassionate towards ourselves, more accepting, to find meaning and overall engage better. “

There was more to this speech, which if you’re interested you can listen and watch here.

What I particularly enjoyed was connecting with fellow disabled people and the people who support them.

Thank you again to St John of God Accord for having me, and to Nillumbik Shire Council for the grant making this event possible.

Until the next IDPWD, let’s all find small moments of celebrating disability pride.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder and Director

Speaking up – A 2024 Wrap Up

By Liel Bridgford [2 min read]

Speaking up is not always easy, while it is always a privilege.

Last year was a busy one, and some of my favourite moments happened while speaking about my passions: disability rights, accessibility, mental health, disability justice and more.

Below are some of those highlights.

In March I interviewed Hannah Diviney about her memoir. Connecting with the audience was best part about that event – hearing the impact of our words on others is always special.

On the podcasting front, I was recently interviewed on the podcast Disability Disrupters – a New Zealand based podcast about disrupting the status quo in disability. It was a pleasure to speak with Pam, and connect over our shared experience of working in the health sector. Pam asked interesting questions, and my favorite was what would I change in the disability sector.

On the radio front, I spoke with ABC about gossip and imposter syndrome, both were short and sweet interviews. I particularly enjoyed talking about imposter syndrome in light of the imposter syndrome workshop I facilitated through Writers Victoria. Facilitating that workshop was definitely a highlight from the year, as I combined my passions for mental health and writing.

Another highlight of 2024 was speaking with Jasper Peach on Able radio, when I got to talk about the importance of mental health support for disabled people and how to find the right support for you.

On a cool June evening a group of writers gathered at Doncaster library and I facilitated workshop about managing ableism, internalised ableism and writing consistency. It was a beautiful evening of connection, thinking and redefining meaning.

When I arrived at the Channel 31 studio for my interview with ALL IN I have to admit that I felt a little nervous. The experience was wonderful and as I moved away from the studio after speaking about mental health, disability justice and immigration, I felt a huge sense of pride.

In December to celebrate International Day of People With Disability and finish off the year, I had the great privilege of delivering my first keynote speech at St John of God Accord.

There have also been many other moments of speaking up and advocating this year- from social media, to my kids school, to professional meetings and everything in between.

It is with great hope that I conclude speaking up for 2024. I hope our words reach someone who needs to hear them.

Liel Bridgford

Psychologist, Writer, Educator

Kultivate Founder and Director