By ANEEKA SIMONIS
TWO years ago, a Pakenham student put her innermost thoughts to paper – detailing the struggles that kept her in the lonely darkness.
Now 17 years of age, Kelly Forster’s moving piece ‘The Tunnel of Loneliness’ has been recognised by the Mental Health Foundation Australia as part of a recent national creative writing contest.
Kelly’s words come from a deep and dark place.
During her earlier years, Kelly said she struggled to fit in.
The former Pakenham Secondary College student described herself as an “outcast”, admitting she had shut herself off from the people around her due to a personal tragedy that drew her into a tunnel of isolation.
At one stage of her life, Kelly, said she preferred living in the darkness of her isolation where she felt safe from being hurt.
But now, Kelly said she was far away from the dark place she used to exist in.
“I thought I was happy in the darkness. Feeling safe, hidden from the cruel reality of the real world, being alone and finding comfort and safety in the darkness,” she wrote.
“Only now realising that darkness was sinking into me, turning my soul cold and dark and my heart to stone, turning me selfish and afraid of the world.”
A big part of her journey toward the ‘light’ was taking up creative writing.
For the Year 12 student, it has been a powerful outlet which has enabled her to release and process thoughts and feelings that trouble her.
Now a student at Oakwood School, an alternative school in Pakenham, she spends a lot of her time writing.
It has become a sort-of therapy for Kelly.
“I really enjoy writing. Sometimes I don’t realise how personal it is. I reread things I write and understand more about how I felt,” she said.
“The school has really helped me learn about myself and what I need to know. I have trouble talking in a large group so the fact that the school is smaller helps.”
Kelly is heavily involved in programs offered at the centre, particularly Catch Up where she has made a lot of new friends.
“At the program, you meet a lot of nice people. They are really fun and have big personalities – it’s contagious,” she said.
Mental Health Week was celebrated nationally from Sunday 4 October until Saturday 10 October.
