Taranaki Rats Support Hub

04/09/2025

03/08/2025

When your mental health isn’t great, even the smallest tasks can feel huge.

Showering. Replying to a message. Making a meal.

And while the world might tell you these things are “basic,” the truth is, when you’re struggling, they’re anything but.

So if all you did today was get out of bed, take your meds, drink some water, or just keep breathing...

That counts.
That matters.
That’s enough for today.

Be gentle with yourself. Especially when your brain is not.

Siubhan x

23/07/2025

You’re doing better than you think.

It just doesn’t always feel that way when your feed is full of other people’s highlight reels.

Smiling faces. Clean houses. Happy families. Big wins.

But you don’t see the bad days.

The stress.
The worry.
The mess hidden just outside the frame.

You’re not behind. You’re not failing.

You’re simply seeing a filtered version of reality and comparing it to your unfiltered life.

So if social media ever makes you feel like you’re not enough, step away.

You are doing enough.
You are enough.
No filter required.

Siubhan x

14/07/2025

Some days feel heavier than others, and not always for reasons we can explain.

You might wake up already tired. Already tense. Already on edge.

Please know that doesn’t mean you’re doing life wrong.

It means you're human.

Mental health isn’t always about a dramatic “event.”

Sometimes it’s the quiet overwhelm. The background stress. The pressure to keep going when you're already worn out.

If that’s you right now, pause.

Take five minutes for yourself, away from your phone, your to-do list, and other people’s expectations.

You don’t have to earn rest.
You don’t have to have a breakdown to deserve support.

Even when it’s “invisible,” what you’re carrying still matters.

Siubhan x

24/06/2025

Most of us are narrating a life we’ve outgrown.

A perpetual loop running circles in our head.

The voice of our mother.
The voice of our father.
The voices of our teachers.
The voices of our friends.

Unhelpful conversations reminding us, quietly and consistently, that we’re not quite good enough.

But here’s the thing…

It was never your parents’ intention to make you feel like you weren’t enough.
That you were somehow lacking.
That you were flawed.

And your teachers, friends, and anyone else who had a hand in the mental construct you’ve created about yourself, they were all operating from their own inherited beliefs. Their own wounds. Their own fears.

What if I told you that much of what you believe about yourself isn’t even yours?

We’re living our life from a rendering that simply isn’t real.

You’re not broken.
You’ve just been believing stories that were never truly yours to begin with.

And you get to rewrite them.

Siubhan x

08/06/2025

I've been contemplating this for the past few days. Pondering the bridge no one told us we’d need.

You were born a tiny thing, adored simply because you existed.

You were worthy just for being.

And then you learned to put a spoon in your mouth.
To wobble your way across a room.
To say a few words, write your name, tie your laces.

And every time, you were met with praise.

“Oh my goodness, look at you! You’re so clever!”
“You make me so proud!”
“You’re such a good girl/boy.”

Each small act of learning brought smiles and claps and love.

But then…
You got something wrong.
You spilled the juice.
You spoke too loudly.
You said “no” when they expected “yes”.

And the smiles disappeared.

“You should know better.”
“That’s not how good girls behave.”
“You’ve disappointed me.”
“You’re being naughty.”

And suddenly, the rules changed.

The love felt conditional.
Your worth seemed tangled up in performance.
You tiptoed through your own life, trying not to get it wrong.

There was no bridge between then and now.

No guide to help you understand why you suddenly had to earn what once came freely.

No gentle passage into adulthood, just an expectation that you’d figure it all out.

And maybe that’s why you still doubt yourself.
Why you still feel like you’re getting it wrong.
Why you still crave approval… and fear rejection.

It’s not your fault.

You were taught to equate love with being “good”.
To measure worth in gold stars and right answers.
To believe that mistakes make you wrong, not just what you did.

But sweetheart, you were never meant to be perfect.
You were only ever meant to be whole.

Maybe now, we build the bridge.
Maybe now, we unlearn.
Maybe now, we come home.

You didn’t come this far. To only come this far.

Siubhan x

04/06/2025

We need to stop telling our children we’re proud of them.

I know that sounds strange, maybe even jarring at first.
But hear me out…

Every time we say “I’m proud of you,” we inadvertently teach them that their worth is measured by someone else’s approval.

That the goal is to please others.
That their value lies in being “good” in our eyes.

But what if we instead said:
“You must be so proud of yourself.”

Just imagine the shift.

This simple reframe places the sense of accomplishment within them.

It teaches them to look inward, not outward, for validation.

It reminds them that their life is their own.

That they are not here to fulfil our dreams, soothe our wounds, or live up to our standards.

They are here to create something spectacular, and to trust themselves in doing so.

But in order to guide them towards that, we must do the work too.

To notice how often we’ve deferred to others.

To recognise the parts of ourselves still chasing approval.

To come home to our own inner authority.

Because we don’t teach self-trust by preaching it.

We teach it by modelling it.
By living it.
And by letting them see us proud of ourselves too.

Siubhan x

✨ If this speaks to you, I wrote a little pocketbook to help unpack these deeper truths - for mothers, for women, for teachers, and for the young people watching us navigate our healing.

You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/aw/d/1067010203

22/05/2025

When you were little, you would gaze at yourself in the mirror, enthralled with your reflection. You ADORED what you saw. Jam-covered lips would kiss the glass, full of giggles and smiles.

You KNEW you were gorgeous, lovable, worthy.

And then, there was a shift.

At some point, you decided you were flawed. You started critiquing yourself. You felt less than, believed you weren’t good enough.

You began noticing all the things that were ‘wrong’ with you, things you ‘should’ do better.

And as time went on, the love you once felt for yourself slipped away.

I want to ask you, under whose rules are you not good enough?

That voice in your head might sound like you, but it's not. It's a culmination of false beliefs. And it's time to stop listening to it. To stop reciting old narratives.

NOTHING changes, until you change what you tell yourself.

But when you do, oh my love, that’s when the magic comes.

Siubhan x