(Mia is sitting on a bench outside, speaking slightly to the side of the camera)

- The cultural expectations as an Indigenous person is that you look after your mob. 

(A title graphic appears on the centre of the screen that reads: Mia talks about OBLIGATIONS)

(As Mia introduces herself, another small graphic appears on the bottom left of the screen that reads: Mia McMenamin 20, Kaurna/Nurrunga)
 
Hi, I'm Mia McMenamin. I'm Kuarna/Nurrunga and I am from Adelaide now livin' in Sydney. So I'm a beach baby and so is my mob. 

My experience in the end of Year 12 was a bit rough. My mum was talking a lot about her health. She was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Literally the end of Year 12 when exams and everything was happening was when she was actually diagnosed. 

It altered a lot of what I got to do. I struggled getting out throughout high school. I was kind of looking after my little brother at the time I was the sister that had to do our laundry and I was the sister that had to make dinners and I was the sister that had to yell at him to clean his room. Basically felt like a teen mum at the time, really. My dad worked night shift, which is why I was primarily taking Jax to and from school. I was just really struggling with guilt. "Mia, you need to, you need to help out more", and I felt like I was already doing so much of looking after Mum. 

I got a lot of support from my friends. I almost felt seen because I didn't really get seen a lot at home. Even my little brother at the time, I think he was only 10, we would kind of discuss things together. It really put in perspective that I wasn't the only one feeling unseen because unfortunately, yeah, Mum had her own worries. Mothering, it wasn't the primary job, it was for her to get better. 

I definitely had a few kind of ways to deal with the impact, music being one. I had a playlist for every single mood I was feeling. I had a sad playlist, I had a crying-sad playlist. I had a heartbreak playlist, and then I also had my happier playlist and I found that almost whenever I was in these really dark stages or dark depressions, if I just had an argument with my family, if I've just locked myself in my room, put on the headphones and I would just listen to music. 

The secondary thing is I have an English staffie called Felicia. My dog was quite literally my best friend, so dog walking was great. I loved going on runs, physical activity and my playlists really helped me get through that stage.