EP 7 - TOUCHING THE EARTH DIFFERENTLY WITH TIM HEFFERNAN

Join Communities Of Collaboration host Fi Peel and passionate poet (and one of six Deputy Commissioners for the NSW Mental Health Commission) Tim Heffernan they explore the art of prose poetry, the responsibility of language and the inherent gifts of those who touch the earth differently. Tim explores his partnership with Alise Blayney in keeping the memory, work and aspirations of Ben Frater alive. Hear Tim's own poetry and poetic insights that inspire celebrations humanity's unique relationship with creativity as expressions of identity and connection with the worlds each we find ourselves in.

Tim Heffernan (pronouns: he/him) is an experienced mental health lived experience (peer) worker who worked in public mental health for over a decade before moving into a coordinator’s role with South Eastern NSW PHN. He has been involved with the Mental Health Commission of NSW since its inception, firstly as a member of the Community Advisory Council and for the last four years as a Deputy Commissioner.

Tim first entered the mental health system in 1983 at a time when the world was experiencing an escalation of Cold War tensions. Ronald Reagan was talking about the Evil Empire and Star Wars, invading Grenada and in November NATO began a simulated nuclear attack code named, Able Archer. Convinced the world would end if he didn’t live past his 24th birthday and listening to the gathering machinery of war on his transistor radio, Tim agreed to go into the Mental Health Unit at Wagga Base Hospital for sanctuary and asylum. The world survived and Tim attempted to return to his teaching career, only to experience involuntary treatment at Kenmore Hospital in 1985. Leaving that ungodly place, he vowed never to go back.

Tim returned to teaching in 1986 and enjoyed a nineteen-year career as an English teacher in NSW public high schools. Despite his best intentions he has been a guest of the public mental health system a few more times since leaving teaching in 2005. Tim has always used poetry to make sense of his experiences and the world, and in 2016 was awarded the Joanne Burns prose poetry award. In that same year, with fellow poet and peer worker Alise Blayney, he facilitated a Mad Poetry workshop, panel and reading at the Wollongong Writers Festival. Not long after Tim and Alise launched an online place for mad poetry ‘Clozapine Clinic – the Frater Project’ in Verity La magazine, published writers form around the word. The Mad Poetry project remains embedded in Verity La and has been taken on by a second journal Red Room Company. Reprised at the Wollongong Writers Festival in 2018 and 2020, Mad Poetry also featured at the Queensland Writers Festival in 2017 and recently at this year’s Big Anxiety Festival in Melbourne.

You can reach out to Tim on LinkedIn