u/FearlessDrink3883

Hi all.

I'm retiring in Feb 2027 and thinking about the how big the change from decades of everyday professional work life to the forever weekend.

There's quite a few hobbies, physical activities and interests I'm already enjoying that will fill some of my retirement days.

I'm thinking of getting some debriefing sessions with a psychologist to help me transition mentally.

Has anyone else done such a thing or feel they should/should have?

Forgotten Australians were children placed into “out-of-home care” in Australia between roughly the 1920s and 1990s under government child welfare policies. This included orphanages, children’s homes, foster care and other institutions.

The reasons children were taken into care varied widely. Some were orphaned, some were born “out of wedlock”, and others were removed because of poverty, domestic violence, family breakdown, or because their parents were considered unable to cope during hardship or crisis. Under the Child Welfare Act 1939, children could even be declared “neglected” and made wards of the state.

From the 1940s through even into the 1980s, many children were placed into Catholic orphanages and other institutions where they suffered serious physical, emotional and psychological abuse that affected them for the rest of their lives.

My mother was one of those children. She lived with what would now probably be described as complex PTSD for the rest of her life, and the trauma carried into our family and childhood.

Of the four kids (now adults), one has passed, one became an itinerant worker, another has never really been able to work because of mental health issues linked to abuse at home and is medicated. I eventually managed to stabilise my life in my late 20s and build a good career.

Even today, I still carry a lot of trauma from childhood. It affects my trust in people and everyday interactions and I don't handle stress or confrontation well internally. For years I used alcohol and weed at times to bury emotions and numb things out. It also took me a long time to trust someone enough to have a serious relationship or get married. Thankfully, I’m now in a long and happy relationship.

For others who are children of Forgotten Australians, what was life like for you, and how are you going now?

My TT is now more than 8mo old and I don't want to wait until the next service.

TT effects my ACC and causes incorrect speed changes and also often takes me to the wrong places. Such that it's unusable and I do end up using Waze GMaps.

I'm fine with using the others, but would prefer TT to actually work.

For those that in an office environment where their day is back to back appointments and have Workday Breaks, particularly Tea Breaks in their Award, EA etc, how are, or should these be managed?

We are in a national organisation and though the agreement is in place, Tea Breaks* is just not implemented in our schedule and never has been. Lunch breaks are however. The Tea Break is just not there and there's no time in our day to barely have a drink of water.

Our closest clean toilet is about 600m away.

*time to have break, drink, #1 or #2's or a quick phone call

What does your similar workplace do to manage such Breaks?