Psychological and Health Institute

08/11/2025

08/11/2025

Stronger Than You Know

You are stronger than you know
and braver than you feel.

Strength is not always loud,
sometimes it lives
in the quiet ways you keep moving forward.

It’s in the mornings you rise,
even when your heart is heavy,
in the small acts of tending to life,
when it seems almost impossible to do so.

And bravery,
bravery is not the absence of fear
but the steady willingness
to meet each new day.

It’s choosing to open your heart again,
to love again,
to trust again,
even after it has been broken.

You may not always see it in yourself,
but courage is woven through your every breath,
carrying you further
than you realize.

You are stronger than you know,
and braver than you feel.
And one day, when you look back,
you will see
how far you have truly come.

~ 'Stronger Than You Know' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Suzy Sights

06/11/2025

Fresh Food Swap 🍋💐🥕

Swap and share homegrown produce every Thursday at the Portland Library, 10am-12pm.

Fruit, vegetables, herbs, seeds, seedlings, jams and chutneys, flowers, eggs, honey and recipes are all welcome! Give what you can and take what you need. No money exchanged, and no waste!

If you have any questions, please contact the Health Promotion Team at healthpromotion.pdh@swarh.vic.gov.au or 5522 1197

06/11/2025

The Quiet Strength of Letting Go

Letting go of anything
that disturbs or disrupts
our sense of peace and wellbeing
is an act of quiet strength.

It means choosing
not to carry what weighs us down,
old fears,
unmet expectations,
the opinions of others,
the stories we tell ourselves
about how things should have been.

In releasing
what no longer nourishes us,
we create room
for calm to return,
for clarity to surface,
for joy to breathe again.

Letting go is not avoidance;
it is a sacred act
of self-preservation,
a gentle declaration
that our inner peace
matters more
than the chaos
we’ve outgrown.

'The Quiet Strength of Letting Go' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Muminat Shamkhalova

06/11/2025

Trying new things is no luxury; it's a proven and essential mental-health tool that delivers a range of benefits, especially for those who have struggled with depression.

04/11/2025

Creating Collections 🐝🐞

Insects are wild, weird, and wonderful. you’ll never see them the same way again after this hands-on workshop. Discover how to start your own insect collection the right way: ethical, creative, and full of fascinating detail.

Tutored by Chris Rockley: Chris is a scientific illustrator who’s been sharing the art of looking closely at nature since 2008. She’s worked with museum specimens and field collections to create drawings for books and journals—and now she’s here to show you how to see insects in a whole new way.

Run by Glenelg Libraries

04/11/2025

In Your Own Time

Whatever you are healing from right now,
loss, heartbreak, disappointment,
or a wound no one else can see,
remember, your pace is your own.

Healing is not a race,
not a test of strength,
it is a quiet unfolding,
often slower than you wish,
more challenging than you could have imagined,
yet no less worthy of your patience.

Some days you will move forward
with clarity and light.
Other days, it will feel
as though you are standing still,
or even slipping backward.

Both are part of the process.
Trust that what needs to mend
will do so in its own time.
You are not behind.
You are not failing.

You are becoming whole
in the only way you can,
step by step,
breath by breath,
moment by moment.

~ 'In Your Own Time' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Suzy Sights