Hi. My name is Annette Tonkin
Here is a short story about me.
I live in Australia and moved around South Australia as I grew up with my family. I was a high achiever both at school and at sport, opening up many opportunities for me in my life. It also contributed to the many challenging stages throughout my life, particularly my teens and twenties.
I graduated from University of South Australia as a physiotherapist in 1979 and went to work in a Sports Medicine clinic. Sports medicine was in it’s infancy back in the late ‘70s and ‘80s and for me it was an exciting time to be involved in it’s development.
To further enhance my physiotherapy skills, I went back to University in 1986 and graduated with a Graduate Diploma of Advanced Manipulative Therapy.
I spent 30 years of my physiotherapy life in private practices that I established myself. I concentrated my skills on working with people recovering from injuries sustained through physical activity, especially the sport of basketball. My life revolved around work, sport and contribution to sporting events.
I voluntarily worked with Adelaide Quit Lightning (AQL) for 13 years and was fortunate to be involved in 4 National Championships throughout the nineties. I met some wonderful people and was surrounded by motivated, goal orientated athletes and coaches. It was a stimulating environment in which to be involved. My work with AQL contributed to my selection as the physiotherapist for the Australian Women’s Basketball Team during 2001-2004.
During my time with AQL I was awarded the Keys to the City of Adelaide for my contribution to Women’s Basketball. This is an award that is given to very few people and I was honored to receive it in recognition of the work that I had done.
During my time with the Australian Women’s Basketball Team I travelled the world and attended a World Championships in China in 2002. This was followed by my selection as part of the Australian Olympic Team in 2004 in Athens, as the physiotherapist for the Women’s Basketball Team. We won a silver medal at that 2004 Olympics and the memories of that achievement will be with me for the rest of my life.
Throughout my years as a physiotherapist I responded to requests by Sports Medicine Australia by assisting with Sports Medicine Coverage for major sporting carnivals, special events, and training camps. This included working with the visiting Russian Olympic Gymnastic Team while in Adelaide training prior to the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Education has always been a passion of mine and I have played an active role in presenting injury prevention workshops to the sporting community as well as teaching on the undergraduate training for physiotherapists. The sporting groups that I presented to include athletes, parents, coaches and sports trainers. I also assisted in development of Community Education Workshops.
In 2009 my work as a physiotherapist came to an end due to arthritis in my wrists and thumbs. This left a huge void in my life as I was not sure what I was going to do in the future. I felt strongly that I still had something to contribute but was unsure as to how I could do this. I had always been interested in health and fitness and the mindset behind both success and failure.
My interest in psychology evolved during my teenage and early adulthood when I was plagued with depression and eating disorders. At the same time as I was making a contribution to sport and teaching, I was also battling depression and a deep belief that nothing I did was good enough. I went through years of counseling followed by self development. I learnt the hard way that life is a reflection of the beliefs you hold and when you change your attitude, the world will reflect something different.
By the time my physiotherapy years had come to an end, I knew that I wanted to help people who were struggling emotionally as I had for many years and so I decided to do a Graduate Certificate in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) through Inspiritive. It was the only University certified NLP training in Australia and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to complete this course under the tutorage of Thomas Cosgrove who is now deceased. It was a wonderful although challenging journey of personal development as well as gaining an understanding of language and how it can both be a reflection of our inner world as well as an instigator for emotional change.
I completed this course in 2010 and am now passionate about bringing together my physiotherapy training, NLP training and personal experience in a form that can help others struggling with mental health issues through the medium of the internet.
At the end of the movie Platoon the surviving soldier reminisces his involvement in the war and as I listened to this it struck a real cord in my soul. Although I now see that my mental and emotional struggles were a necessary part of my life’s journey and I am now at peace with my conscious mind, this passage compels me to communicate hope and evidence of survival that I plan to provide through my website and eBook.
“I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves and the enemy was in us.
The war is over for me now but it will always be there the rest of my days…… But be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again.
To teach to others what we know and to try with what’s left of our lives to find a goodness and meaning to this life.” … Platoon
My wish for the future:
When my days have come and gone I hope I leave more right than wrong and when I am done I hope there’ll be someone who lives a happier life because of me.
Annette Tonkin
