By Stella Joseph-Jarecki
CONTENT WARNING: This post is a tribute to Jordan Auld, who left us in 2021. Please don’t read it if you aren’t up to it; look after yourself. This was an easy one to write but a hard one to share.
Jordan – I raise a glass to you and try my best to live a bold, sparkling life in your honour.
Readers – If you’re ever struggling with your mental health, there are services available to you. As someone who has made use of many of them, multiple times, I cannot recommend them enough.
Copied from Health Direct, a government website:
- Lifeline provides 24-hour crisis counselling, support groups and suicide prevention services. Call 13 11 14, text 0477 13 11 14 or chat online.
- Suicide Call Back Service provides 24/7 support if you or someone you know is feeling suicidal. Call 1300 659 467.
- Beyond Blue aims to increase awareness of depression and anxiety and reduce stigma. If you or a loved one need help, you can call 1300 22 4636, 24 hours/7 days a week or chat online.
- MindSpot is a free telephone and online service for people with anxiety, stress, low mood or depression. It provides online assessment and treatment for anxiety and depression. MindSpot is not an emergency or instant response service. Call 1800 61 44 34.
- Medicare Mental Health gives advice and will connect you to local mental health services. Call 1800 595 212.
- MensLine Australia is a professional telephone and online counselling service offering support to Australian men. Call 1300 78 99 78, 24 hours/7 or chat online.
If you’re feeling lonely:
- FriendLine supports anyone who’s feeling lonely, needs to reconnect or just wants a chat. You can call them 7 days a week on 1800 424 287, or chat online with one of their trained volunteers. All conversations with FriendLine are anonymous.
For young people who need mental health support, and their parents or carers:
- Kids Helpline is Australia’s only free 24/7 confidential and private counselling service specifically for children and young people aged 5 – 25. Call 1800 55 1800.
- headspace provides free online and telephone support and counselling to young people 12 – 25 and their families and friends. Call 1800 650 890, or chat online.
For people with complex mental health issues:
- SANE Australia provides support to anyone in Australia affected by complex mental health issues, as well as their friends, family members and health professionals. Call 1800 187 263 or chat online.
- Blue Knot Foundation Helpline is the National Centre of Excellence for Complex Trauma. It provides support, education and resources for the families and communities of adult survivors of childhood trauma and abuse. Call 1300 657 380.
My Beautiful Friend Jordan
I think about my beautiful friend Jordan a lot.
She inspires me every day. Heartbreakingly, she isn’t here with us anymore. I think about her and my eyes fill with tears.
Jordan left us in 2021. Barely a month later, like a surreal fever dream, I was sent to hotel quarantine with absolutely no chance of having covid. (By that point I had been living out and about as usual for three days…) The government paid for thirteen days of quarantine in a brand-new hotel repurposed for this, and it was the most bizarre experience of my life.
These events changed me. I’ve approached life differently since then. I leave it all on the table – and every time I need to be brave, or take a chance, I think of my beautiful friend. Who had a glittering life ahead of her, more talent than you could poke a stick at, the best wardrobe I’d ever seen, and a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor. And you couldn’t even be annoyed at her for being so incredible! BECAUSE SHE WAS ALSO KIND! Urgh, how annoying.
I don’t believe in heaven or hell personally… But I believe in something. And I know without shadow of a doubt that she’s watching over me, and her best friends who she loved so much. I think of her whenever I think of the character Musetta from Puccini’s La Boheme. I think of her when I think of an absurdly talented and stunning woman, who could dance and act as brilliantly as she could sing. I think of her when I remember laughing until I cried during our university production of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites. I can clearly hear her guttural laugh in my head.
It’s been four years Jordan. My grief for you broke through in the last six months, almost as if I knew that I was brave enough to feel it.
I miss you so much. I love you.
I’ll never stop thinking of you and living an amazing, adventurous life in your honour. I’m raising a glass to you today!
Listen to Jordan perform a stunning duet here
EDIT: I’m proud to have interviewed Jordan in 2020, and humbly believe I captured her dazzling talent and tireless work ethic. This interview has been viewed over 800 times, a sign of how sorely she is missed.
If you’d like to read the piece in question: Voice Notes: Jordan Auld
Fever Pitch Magazine 