Melissa

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, we’ve been asking our community to share their reflections on what “community” means to them.

Melissa, a member of our community, responded with two heartfelt poems that speak to the power of connection, support, and shared experience.

For Melissa, community spirit was a lifeline through trauma and bullying – a symbol of hope, healing, and belonging. Through her words, she reminds us how much strength there is in kindness, in waving to a stranger during a marathon, or in simply having a neighbour who’s there for you.

Melissa’s poems “Neighbours/Community Spirit” and “Marathon and Community Spirit” – both are powerful reflections on resilience, acceptance, and the healing nature of togetherness.

Neighbours/community spirit and looking out for each other

Community spirit is what I held onto for decades when I suffered with trauma and bullying. It was hope, hope that one day normality would resume and I’d finally feel like I belonged again. I’m getting there. Community was instilled in me from an early age and grew in importance from my experience growing up in paediatric care and in a neighbourhood where neighbours really encompassed the very definition of the word community.

I love that homely link

There’s a connection in the way that we think 

You’ve been constant and reliable 

Your loyalty undeniable 

A permanent reminder of everything that makes community spirit viable 

Marathon and community spirit 

I took part in a half marathon and the juxtaposition of the rejection I expect and the encouragement I received took me aback my first instinct is always judgement but not here this was acceptance. 

Thank you for today 

The smiles and the waves 

It’s a really crucial insight

Into how the world behaves

From people who just stare

To those that really care 

To the people you meet when your waiting 

And to the memories were all creating