We open on a scene showing a work room filled with office accessories and books. The wall behind the work area is covered with images and hand drawn artwork. The following text is superimposed on the screen.
Fatimah is a Beyond Blue volunteer and small business owner who shares her journey with mental health to help others. Australia Post is proud to share her story with you.
We see Fatimah standing in front of an office window. An indoor plant is on the windowsill behind her. She is wearing a light blue jacket over a floral print dress.
She introduces herself.
My name is Fatimah.
The video scene transitions to Fatimah speaking to camera while seated at a large table.
I’m a career-driven professional that has been climbing the corporate ladder for the last 18 years until I stepped into my own business.
We see a new scene of Fatimah walking to an office desk and sitting down in front of a computer screen.
In 2007, I was successful in securing my first big role in the CBD. It was the weekend before, during dinner, I just had a sudden panic attack, I didn't know what it was.
As she speaks, we periodically cut away to see footage of Fatimah wearing casual clothes and walking her dog along a suburban street.
She continues:
So naturally my first instinct was “I’m about to die”. Then I remember going to the hospital, being on a drip for about four hours… and next day I had to get up and get ready to go to work on the Monday.
I was too scared to say anything and for many days later, concealing the fact that I had anything wrong with me; for the fear of losing my job after just starting.
The video now transitions to a new scene where we observe Fatimah through a window, standing on a deck surrounded by plants, and speaking on her phone.
She continues to speak. It was, in fact, related to underlying anxiety that I didn't know I had.
Once again, we see Fatimah seated at the large table and speaking to the camera before observing Fatimah through a window. She’s standing on a deck surrounded by plants and speaking on her phone.
Over the journey of recovery, I did learn how to manage. It almost doesn't affect me to a point where it stops me from doing anything that I want to do. In fact, it drives me to push harder than ever before.
We now see Fatimah moving across her room to sit at the table in front of her laptop computer.
Eight years into that corporate career, my first business, which didn't really go anywhere - kind of failed.
We see that the laptop screen shows six faces and a video conference is in progress.
All of the lessons from that, put into the last five years, have been a key part of our continued success more recently.
The video scene transitions between us observing Fatimah working at her laptop computer, and a view of Fatimah speaking to the camera. She continues to speak.
There's a lot of nervousness that comes around being a founder, and as we've been growing, the anxiety that comes with a growing business is continuing to come our way.
The video now shows someone writing into a notebook and cuts back and forth between observing the video conference and Fatimah working or speaking to the camera.
My team know mental health is a big part of what we do. We talk almost every single day. Even if we're not working, we're finding something funny to share with each other. Those sorts of connections that I’m making with people - it actually helps. I see the evidence firsthand.
If someone's feeling anxious and overwhelmed running a small business, stop what you're doing, take a step back. Think about what it is that's causing them that stress. You can then put in place strategies to overcome that.If it's financial stress - maybe it's looking at funding. If it's health stress - maybe it's getting your regular health check.
There's so many different things that you can do to overcome your anxieties, but you first need to acknowledge them and identify that they exist.
On screen, we see Fatimah and a man walking toward an office building and entering through the front automatic doors. They then walk to a reception desk. Fatimah continues to speak.
You have to talk about it. You have to find the triggers that are causing your anxiety. In my life. I’ve had everything from bullying to financial stress to personal health emergencies. But, understanding what the trigger is and then working to even mitigate that from happening in future is really key.
Fatimah and her male colleague speak to the receptionist and then we see them sitting down at a table in a meeting room.
I think sometimes we assume that having anxiety means that we're going to be any less good at our jobs; but it's actually quite the opposite. You need to make sure that you've got the time to take care of yourself because taking the time for self-care is what's going to help you to get through the next day, the next week, the next month.
We see Fatimah smiling to the camera. On screen, a title is superimposed over the footage. It reads – ‘When we connect, we feel better’. The scene then fades and is replaced by the Australia Post and Beyond Blue logos. The Australia Post logo is white and on a red background. This is on the left half of the screen, and the Beyond Blue logo is on a white background on the right half of the screen.
Video ends.