Gosh, what to say. I developed chronic migraine as part of peri-menopause. My life stopped. I was in bed day after day. Hiding from light. Hiding from noise and smell. And in Agony. I finally got hormone treatment that made a huge difference thanks to a female gynaecologist and research by the Jean Hailles institute. No help from the male neurologist who rolled his eyes at me and said he sees this all the time and ´doesn’t do hormones’. 

Why is no-one talking about how the Howard era changes to family law - divorce settlements (equal apportionment of assets rather than Women being granted the family home) have driven this is beyond me. 

I am a Rachel (from the 70s peak). I never liked my name. So my blood has t been boiling from this article as suggest. It would be. 

Thanks, all good stuff for a check in of yourself. But thought this would be about how to spot it in others (from lived experience I picked it in and helped many friends). Please think about something on that front too. 

It should be noted, that in Australia, as well as the US and UK, complainants (aka victim-survivors) get no opportunity to have character witnesses or statements in support to them. 

I was a swimming teacher for a while. Supervising up to 8 children (under 10 yrs) at a time. I was appalled at how many parents viewed me as their babysitter. Seriously, I was trained to watch kids like a Hawke and had the CPR training etc. But it still astounded me that parents used it as a chance to abscond. The pool was only a country pool and had a graduated depth to up to 2m. I had to try and keep them all in the shallows. Even though I was a qualified teacher, I always stayed when my kids were young and in the water for lessons (you can’t teach your own kids to swim as a rule!) Nothing ceases to amaze me. 

Thank you. 

All of these experiences are heart wrenching. However I find consolation in knowing I am not alone.  Thank you so much for this article.