Voices from Jamii II Anxiety Management Class I-Poem

Written by Carol Adams

We had a chat with some of the participants from the Jamii II Anxiety Management Class which was facilitated by Community Care And Wellbeing Services (CCAWS).  The participants shared their personal experiences and feeling about managing anxiety and the class. From this conversation, we created something called an I-Poem. An I-Poem is a special type of poem that captures the exact words spoken by participants during discussions. To create an I-Poem, we select sentences from the conversation which start with “I”. These sentences are arranged to form a poem reflecting the personal experiences, emotions and thoughts of the speaker. This method allows us to present the voices of participants in a raw and authentic way, giving deep insight into their personal journeys with anxiety. The I-Poem not only highlights their challenges but showcases their resilience and the impact of Jamii II on their wellbeing.

I sometimes feel so stressed.

I have lots of things going on around me.

I would like to reduce my anxiety and know how to deal in the hard times.

I want to improve my life; to transform to my best version.

I want to have more skills to fight this anxiety

I am a mom and a working mom.

I am so busy. I have 3 children and juggling taking care of the children, school runs and working: it’s too much.

I’m on my own here.

I don’t have family.

I lost all my friends. 

I found out that as my responsibility is increasing, my stress level is increasing as well.

I try to read a lot on my own about how to manage my stress; reading is not like interacting with professionals and listening to them.

I have lots of challenges in my life.

I have to sort out a lot of things.

I would like my life to be easier than now.

I am struggling to do the first step and I would like to be brave to take a leap.

I want to do what I want to do and not think about what they say about me and what I should do.

I want to be more relaxed…more in peace with my life.

I don't want to be juggling.

I want to catch up on personal goals that I have been delaying for so long.

That's why I joined the Anxiety Management Class

I'm more able now to manage my stress through the breathing techniques - through disconnecting myself from the situation.

I'm trying to apply a lot of what I've learned.

I'm releasing negative energy of stress and anxiety.

I'm really satisfied with what I learned.

I learned how to manage my stress and reduce anxiety.

I wish I could have more lessons like that.

I manage my life stress situations and sadness.

I'm not 100%, I am not cured from this social anxiety, but I am making a start.

I now know that I have to take care about myself.

I have tools to fight against anxiety.

I have lots of hopes and things to do. I have the tools with the anxiety management to think logically, without anxiety, without worrying about things and put them in the right way.

I am focusing more on my circle of control.

I have a new way of thinking.

I'm aware about what is happening now, why I'm anxious.

We are women from ethnic minority communities where there is mental health stigma.  We think we cannot share what we feel, what we think.  We will be looked down upon if we share our experiences, our thoughts, our feelings because people will think that we're not okay mentally.  But this is not all right. We need to spread awareness.  We need to take care of our well-being, which is part of mental health.