Stories from the WISE Community: Tecia
My Name is Tecia Lee. I’m originally from Westmeadows in Victoria (Wurundjeri land). I grew up in the local caravan park with my Mum, Dad, duck and ten budgies. When I was older, my parents separated, and I split my time between my Mum and Dad’s homes, which were two minutes away.
I’ve always loved being in nature. My main hobbies involve anything in the outdoors. I love the thrill of adrenaline when racing on a motorcycle or driving up a steep hill while four-wheel driving. I absolutely love taking photos of anything and everything. I also love rummaging through Op shops, stomping my boots on the dance floor or walking in nature with my shoes off. I will also happily take my yoga mat somewhere tranquil to meditate or practice with my oracle cards. I love going with the flow and making beautiful new connections with strangers.
My first job was at McDonalds. This is where I realised I was definitely cut out for Customer Service roles. Unfortunately, with age came a diminishing amount of available shifts for me, so I was linked up with an Employment Services Provider while on Youth Allowance. The exposure to Employment Services ignited a spark of my passion for helping others in the same position I had found myself in.
My Consultant always worked very closely with me. I vividly remember my first opportunity to claw my way back to work. I received a call to do a Traineeship which included a Cert III qualification in business admin as well as a job as a receptionist. I got the job! After working on this for a year, I became an Employment Consultant with another Employment Services Agency. After three months, I found myself feeling burnt out and searching for another path to take forward.
I was presented with an awesome opportunity to start in the Customer Engagement and Experience Team with WISE Employment, and I snatched it up! I’ve been with WISE since 2019 and am loving the personal growth and development I have seen in myself.
Bipolar has been in my family for three generations. I received my diagnosis in 2020, just after the pandemic hit. I was diagnosed while in a state of hyper mania, leading to a state of psychosis. This was quite a memorable and symbolic time in my early adult life. As I write about this experience, I feel empowered.
Having so many changes/challenges around this time, I chose to prioritise my mental wellbeing and voluntarily became an inpatient at a youth mental health centre. In total, I was off work for just over a month and a half. And let me tell you, the return was not easy. Trialling medication for the first time, experiencing paranoia and suicidal thoughts, and trying to regain my confidence through my healing journey was a full workload.
Luckily, with the support of my manager and WISE, I was able to return part-time and start increasing my hours when I was capable of doing so. This made the process of returning to work and my everyday commitment so much easier.
Bipolar affects my daily life in many ways. It can affect my work, routine, and relationships with friends and family. Some days getting up and out of bed feels almost insurmountable. Experiencing feelings of hopelessness, sadness or just loss of interest in things I would normally enjoy doing makes me feel like I don’t belong in my own skin.
On the flip side, when we are in the lighter seasons, like summer and spring, I normally experience overactivity. This means I talk super quickly to the point of being told to slow down, and most of the time I’m in excessively good moods, which can lead to fast burnout.
I was diagnosed with asthma in primary school, and my symptoms have worsened over time. Now there are days when I can’t leave the house without my Ventolin. Asthma can vary from person to person and can be triggered by many different things like food, being outdoors, indoors and exercise. It has been quite a hard condition to deal with, as having your air source cut off can be terrifying and debilitating.
Some days I find myself starting my working day at 3 am due to a severe asthma attack which has left me unable to go back to sleep. Some days I cannot get on public transport as I am so short of breath. On the odd occasion, I can even end up in the hospital for the day. Luckily for me, I have an asthma plan which helps reduce the symptoms or prevent them in general, so I can continue my day and try to maintain a routine.
I’ve had to overcome many barriers in my life, including Domestic Violence and uncertainty around having a safe place to live. I was exposed to DV from a young age and have found myself in two DV relationships since. When I fled, I had next to nothing but a car and my belongings. This was one of the saddest, scariest yet most empowering moments in my life.
Working in these environments was not easy, and if it wasn’t for the support of close friends, my councillor, my boss and my family, I don’t know how well I would have managed. I don’t know that I would be the strong woman who writes this today without their support.
These types of experiences have greatly helped in my role in Customer Engagement with WISE because I can find I relate to our customers on a deeply personal level due to my life experiences with some of the things they are experiencing when they call us. Most customers don’t think that the person on the other end can understand what they’re going through. I hold so much empathy for our customers experiencing poor mental health, suicidal thoughts, DV, stress with accommodation and cost of living as I really do understand it from their position. I’m aware that I’m on the other side of the phone, but at one point in my life, that customer could have been me, and I will never forget that. I am so grateful.
My favourite part about my role with WISE is helping our customers and being able to change someone’s day/week/view on life with just one phone call. For this, I am so grateful.
All photos supplied by Tecia.