title: Creating an open mind.
abstract: Duncan Monaghan is 33 years old and in his second year of an Arts degree in Creative Writing. He is a published poet and is currently producing a music CD. Duncan has a history of bipolar disorder which was diagnosed when he was nineteen: "It worried me at first a lot. It played on my mind constantly. I felt different from everybody else--I did not understand what was happening to me." Drawing on his life experiences, Duncan has been enhancing his recovery through creativity--in poetry, lyrics, music and story. "Life for me was a constant battle of relying on medication and appointments with my case manager...until I realized I could combine my recovery with my passions as a tool to use as an outlet to many of the "mind traps" I so often found hindering my own recovery." Duncan is Aboriginal and has experience of the mental health systems in most states and territories and now lives in Brisbane. This is a shortened version of his presentation at Creating Futures 2010.
authors: mduncan@y7mail.com
authors: Duncan
authors: D
authors: Monaghan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003405:Creativity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011037:Poetry as Topic