The Waiting was over

The waiting was over

It took me nearly 3 years to get to this stage, so you think I would have left home bit early to be on time for my first meeting with Liz. One would hope so, but not me on that day. I am normally a very punctual person, always on time or early to all my appointments. But that day I had a very busy morning and only had 10 minutes to gulp down my lunch before I dashed out the door ( not an excuse, I could have planned the day better). Normally it takes me 20 minutes from my place to the shopping centre but when I left I only had 17 minutes left to get there. I thought I could do it with driving faster ... not that I have much points left in my driver’s license before it get suspended if I get caught speeding, yes I’m skating on thin ice!

And the luck was against me that day, not only I got delayed all thanks to unexpected traffic on a Saturday afternoon, when I reached the shopping centre I could not find a parking spot to park my ‘babe’. I didn't realised that they have shut down a whole parking floor for some repairs and maintenance-what were they thinking shutting down a whole floor in the middle of Christmas shopping !!! Thank god for mobile phones as I was able to pull aside and send a text message to Liz – just parking the car, I will see you soon –

After going around few circles giving a stern lecture to self,  I managed to park my car. While I was frantically speed walking I got a text back– no worries, take your time- oh how sweet was that. But I was 10 minutes late to our first meeting which I was preparing for last 3 years!

Liz greeted me with a beaming smile. I think she recognised me before I even saw her. She had her long hair in a ponytail and was wearing some comfortable shoes.

-So lovely to see you, I’m so sorry for being late- I was not sure how she would react to physical proximity but I kissed her cheek and apologised.

– Don’t worry about being late, I’m not fussed about that - She looked happy and relaxed returning my greeting.

-So what would you like to do today? How about we start with a chat? – That was me, hoping my nervous not was coming through.

-How about Coffee Club, do you like to sit there? -Liz seems to be eager to move from where she was standing.

We walked across to nearby Coffee Club, ordered two hot chocolates with marshmallows and sat down. So far so good, I told myself smiling with Lizzy who was sitting across me.

3 years of waiting and there I was. Starting a friendship with a stranger.

3 years ago I have applied for a volunteer position to become a ‘friend’ to a person living with a mental illness. The programme is known as Compeer Friendship Programme and is run by St Vincent de Paul Society. It is an internationally recognised programme based on the Power of Friendship. Truth be told, when I registered for it I did not expect the programme to be that comprehensive. Compeer Programme was structured in a way that not only I had to go for an interview with a Compeer Coordinator (perhaps checking if I was stable enough), I had to provide reference checks (from what I have heard back from all 3 referees I gave, they all had to provide a detail written report about my qualities and behaviour) and participate in a comprehensive 2 day training programme on mental illnesses and Compeer Friendship.

Until I sat through the training I did not realised that there are so many verities of mental illnesses or that 1 out of 5 Australians (OK my memory isn't that good, this training was done 3 years ago so the statistics can be wrong, but the idea is that it is more common than I ever imagine it to be) are suffering from some kind of mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar or schizophrenia. As a nation we are lagging behind in openness and acceptance of mental illnesses in our society. There is still a stigma attached to mental illnesses. We need to be more open like the Europeans are.

Anyway after all this I had to wait for a match where they pair you in one to one friendship with a person in same gender,  age and with some common interests. The main objective of this friendship is for the volunteer (me) to help the other person to come out of the social isolation she is in due to mental illness.

So I waited 3 years for this match to happen. Beginning of every year my Compeer coordinator would contact me and enquire if I am still interested in to go through the process for which I would always say YES. Every Christmas I would get a greeting card from her and her team. Occasionally I would receive an invite to participate in some kind of volunteer gatherings events, that I would politely declined ( I was not a volunteer yet to go to those events). Each month there was not hope for a match I was disappointed, but still kept hope.

I used the training I received to help a friend who had a family member going through Schizophrenia. Without the training I would not have been able to be there for her without being scared or judging. Training helped me to be  a better colleague at work. I shared what I have leaned on mental illnesses with my family and friends to building awareness and cut down the stigma.

Finally long waited e-mail hit my in box few months ago. I had a match!!! Whoohoo… I was happy to meet up with my volunteer coordinator to go through my friends profile .I took time off from work to meet up with Liz’s health care professional…So after all those hurdles it was time to have a group meeting.

First thing I noticed about Liz was her smile. She has this gorgeous smile that transfers her to a very younger looking person. I remember seeing her smile for the first time when I was nervously waiting at her health care professional’s office.

I had a meeting with volunteer coordinator, Liz and her health care professional. As the final stage of Compeer Friendship Programme four of us had a face to face meeting to go through rights and responsibilities of the volunteer & the friend. We all acknowledge and agreed to adhere the guidelines. After the meeting Liz and I set a date for our first ‘outing’ as friends.

So there I was on a sunny Saturday afternoon, sitting in a Coffee parlour eagerly waiting for my journey to ‘unknown’ to commence ….. What do they say that best things come to those who wait? well I waited 3 years, so bring it on!