Send us Fan Mail

Season 2, episode 27

Sometimes progress doesn’t look like a huge breakthrough. Sometimes it looks like doing something today that you couldn’t have done 12 months ago.

In this episode, I’m talking about those wins we so easily overlook — staying out of hospital, coming off medication, setting boundaries, saying no, protecting our energy, getting back to exercise… and even something as simple as doing a Click & Collect.

I also share a few updates from my own life, reflect on how far I’ve come, and talk about why comparing ourselves to where we were — rather than where we think we should be — can completely change the way we see our progress.

Plus, this week’s song is OneRepublic’s “I Lived”, which feels pretty bloody fitting.

So here’s the question: if the version of you from 12 months ago — or even five years ago — could see you now, what would they think?

Maybe you’re doing better than you give yourself credit for.

🎵 Song of the Week: OneRepublic – I Lived
Listen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/R9LJ2sBD0F8?si=ce2x50hD7BCOaWAO

💭 Thought of the Week:
“We often wait for kindness… but being kind to yourself can start now.”
— The Mole, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

Be kind to yourself.

Send us Fan Mail

Season 2, episode 26

This episode is special. Melissa had the amazing opportunity be have a chat with Narelle Fraser who is a former Victorian Police officer. She started her own podcast NFI, Narelle Fraser Interviews after her own diagnosis of PSTI.

We share Melissa Smith’s raw path from an 18-year policing career to being medically retired at 37 after PTSI hit hard and fast, revealing years of suppressed trauma. We talk through what helped her rebuild, from inpatient care and TMS to honest conversations at home and using her podcast to stay real about the good days and the brutal ones.
• reframing PTSD as PTSI and why “injury” reduces stigma
• starting as a teenage cop and learning fast at a sink-or-swim station
• everyday challenges of policing including the justice system loop
• a proud moment using iDAT to support a homeless man into rehab
• the fatal crash task that triggered a collapse and brought old memories back
• asking EAP for urgent help and waiting far too long
• masking symptoms and using extreme exercise to run from pain
• what a specialised psych hospital ward is actually like
• medication struggles plus the decision between ECT and TMS
• how family and friends respond and what they need to understand
• managing PTSI long term with tools, talk and self-honesty
• building Mad Mel’s Mic and what her kids learned from her recovery
You can find me on Facebook and Instagram, and don't forget to like and follow.

More information about Narelle can be found here:
https://narellefraser.com/

Send us Fan Mail

Season 2, episode 25

We go back through an unexpected “rabbit hole” that starts with a photo request and ends with me rereading the goodbye texts I sent when I left the police. I unpack how PTSD twisted my memory into feeling abandoned, and how those messages and my progress since then remind me I’m still moving forward.
• running out of phone storage and stumbling into old messages from 2019 to 2021
• the group text I sent on my last day in the police and what it brings up
• feeling like I had leprosy and why that belief made sense at the time
• rereading colleagues’ replies and realising people cared but didn’t know what to say
• a Mount Druitt memory and the flying fox park breaks
• song of the week I Will Survive and the idea that life starts again after a career ends
• sharing my story publicly without shame and how that opens new doors
• a rough couple of days and being proud that I can cry and feel again
• watching true crime again without nightmares and noticing real PTSD recovery
• looking back to measure growth and find something to be proud of
• being proud of my policing career even though it broke me
You can find me on Facebook and Instagram, and don't forget to like and follow.

Song of the week:
I will survive by Gloria Gaynor
https://youtu.be/6dYWe1c3OyU?si=whf_V8wphhUYZ5mr

Thought of the week:
The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse by Charlie Macksey
"So much beauty we need to look after"