Creating space - SICK AF Collective - Mundaring Arts Centre 2026. SICKAF.COM.AU

August 23, 2026

Creating space - SICK AF Collective - Mundaring Arts Centre 2026. SICKAF.COM.AU

"This is an ode for the words never spoken, the nights awake and the thousand I’m fines."

Creating Space, Mundaring Arts Centre, SICK AF Collective, 2026.

Interwoven

Interwoven is an exhibition as a part of the SICK AF Collectives Creating Space.

The only word that comes to her mind is “collision”.

Nadeen explores the words ‘Creating Space’ in different forms, both visual and written works have been produced with this theme in mind.

Written works are read like different far away chapters from the same book. Mashing together in a mismatched fractured manner which is symbolic of the topic C-ptsd (Complex post-traumatic stress disorder) that she lives with.

Her physical works are out of her normal practise for this exhibition. Nadeen has chosen stitching on linen, and liberated hospital gowns that has taken on its own shape and powerful meaning. Along with a framed print, a stamped card and a booklet of poems and a collation of writings.

All created in the year 2025 as she was working with her psychologist, these pieces were created as a way to self soothe after, to solidify her experiences within sessions and as a part of reflection.

Nadeen’s work to date has been a chronological journey since diagnosis, she always relates her life experiences whilst creating. C-ptsd is the overall theme and topic she hasn’t shared on before, Nadeen can share and talk about her other disabilities quite freely however, she struggles to talk about C-ptsd due to its deep embedded nature of shame and guilt that comes with it. Due to the heavy nature of C-ptsd she was mindful of the viewer, she wanted this exhibition to feel ‘safe’.

Every different medium in this exhibition weaves together a story. The interwoven connectedness of her physical disabilities and her mental disabilities collide for this powerful viewing of C-ptsd.

Nadeen asks of those with past trauma to digest it in small pieces as an act of self-care care, “you can enjoy the physical exhibition and take away what you do from it, and after if you are feeling ok you can read the online content. Or for the viewer without trauma I employ you to pick up the booklet whilst there and digest it all in one massive big hit.”

"I use art as a tool to start conversations about disability and conditions as a form of advocacy."

Symptomology, In Slumber, Digital Open Edition, 2025.

Part One

Creating space for advocacy.

Creating space for advocacy, is a piece of writing that goes into detail of her opinions surrounding FND (Functional Neurological Disorder).

Part Two

Creating space for feeling.

Creating space for feeling, is a piece of writing that goes into detail of how her disabilities opened up space for feeling within a body that is detached from itself due to C-ptsd.

Part Three

Creating space for safety.

Creating space for safety, is a creative writing piece that tells a story of herself noticing things within her Psychologist’s office and time spent together.

The Lump in your Throat

The Lump in your Throat poem is a creative writing piece that speaks like a flashback or someone whispering the words from behind.

Diagnostics Card, Stamped, 2025.

Creating space for advocacy.

PART ONE.

I find myself in a strange situation, chronically sick with Dysautonomia (POTS) affecting the Autonomic Nervous System. And Functional Neurological Disorder A brain network Disorder that impacts how the Brain sends signals to the Body via the Nervous System it affects movement, sensation and interoception. It has quite a robust list of symptoms however people will have varied experiences as everybody is unique. FND sits within the DSM-5 along with other mental health and brain-based conditions.

Functional issues have been around since the dawn on time however, for the past Century it is unfortunately still seen within the the lense and views of the brilliant Sigmund Freud (I hope you can sense the sarcasm) Sigmund paved the way for more mistreatment and medical abuse for those with unknown conditions.

Functional Neurological Disorder was introduced into the DSM-5 in 2013 prior to that it fell under Conversion Disorder which was the diagnosis in the DSM since the year 1980. And if we go further back in time Functional Neurological Disorder patients would of fallen under Hysteria along with well known conditions we now have names of due to science. Historically FND has been seen as a Women's issue, so it shouldn't surprise you that the history of FND is embedded in poor medical health outcomes and treatments towards women throughout history.

Whilst things are slightly changing with the name change I do wonder if they changed the name to make it more palatable towards the patient within the diagnosis period. Because let's be real here if someone that had lived a decent life, no past childhood trauma suddenly cannot walk after a fall and the diagnosis is Conversion it wouldn't be digested well; and it shouldn't. The name has changed however treatment is minimal, dismissive and at times traumatic itself, So it begs to question who the name change is for? there hasn't been any big positive changes or outcomes for patients that we would like to have seen with that name change.

Yes, there are websites and advocacy services for FND however within society it just isn't known and with a quick google you can find things such as FND is psychosomatic. There is also this idea within the medical field that it's a temporary condition and you'll be cured if you do x y z and if its permanent it's the person at fault; they've stopped trying to get better, words echoed within my time at rehabilitation in 2022.

When Doctors do scans and blood work and they cannot see anything they can tend to put it under FND which leads to misdiagnosis. Within the Chronic Illness Community, the word FND is a bit of a tension topic it is often met with it's not a real diagnosis, look further into it, don't accept it. Why? Because those with other Chronic Illnesses have been painted with the brush at the start of their own journeys. We as a society I believe we are quite arrogant thinking that we've learnt all we know and all science has been done, there is nothing left to learn. So, within the medical field the unknown is actually quite scary for them, if they cannot find the cause, the origin they then dismiss and blame the patient. Many people start with FND mentioned then they get differing diagnosis later such as Dysautonomia, PANDAS, MCAS, ME/CFS and sometimes even MS is missed; So, I can understand the frustration with being painted with the FND brush.

I'm also seeing a theme lately of people who are becoming completely unconscious, turning blue with low oxygen and the diagnosis is FND, under no literature does FND present that way. And that is scary it seems to me that it would fall under some kind of Autonomic dysfunction like we see with Dysautonomia. In my opinion there is a few cases that I see that really do not fit under the FND umbrella, there seems to be this theme of diagnosing without proper education and work ups and this can lead to potentially devastating outcomes. It also ruins the diagnosis itself because these misdiagnosis leads to untrust of the condition itself.

It is true that a person has a slight predisposition to later in life develop Functional Neurological Disorder if they have a history of adverse childhood events, however it has been taken off of the criteria of diagnosis, the facts remain it is of Unknown Origin. People believe FND to be a rule out diagnosis rather than a rule in, however that just isn't true there are positive signs of FND like a positive Hoover's test. There are a specific set of symptoms that rule in Functional Neurological Disorder, and they are quite distinct if the professional has a keen eye and doesn't have a bias.

The idea of Conversion is that somebody is under stress or some kind of memory and they are converting that trauma or memory into fractured movement. And it also suggests that the person is playing it on or doing it for some kind of gain. Terms such as malingering, Munchhausen (for parents of FND kids) and feigning are often echoed within the walls of these medical institutions, these ideas are deeply rooted into Sigmund's ideology.

Let's look at Non-Epileptic seizures (NEAD), a person with POTS may have a tachycardia episode, heart rate is up to 180bpm the body is under immense physiological pressure its either going to pass out but it can also seize up. People with POTS are at times diagnosed with NEAD, or we have Convulsive Syncope where someone loses consciousness and the body looks like it's having some kind of seizure, however it is not it's just the body's reaction.

Now if we look at these seizures within the psychogenic lense attachment that they seem to have. Why are they suggested that it's pretend? Why are they seen as something the body isn't doing rather the person is forcing. I've myself had a doctor in emergency bang on my chest during an episode "come on she knows what she's doing".

With social media unfortunately you can see comments on posts or reddit threads of Ambulance Workers, Nurses and Doctors in Emergency laughing at NEAD, and telling people their tricks like putting someone's hand up and dropping it, the chest rub and other ways and then laughing at how fake the person is; it's disgusting seeing these types of comments because these are the people that treat us within our most vulnerable moments.

Seizures seem to get the most hate within medical settings and on social media, but a wonky gait is overlooked and isn't up for debate and ridicule; this is just my observation.

For myself I haven't had a seizure in a very long time but I can vaguely explain the experience. Talking becomes weird, the other person makes no sense, ears start a high pitch and vision starts to go funny, heat consumes your body and you feel poisoned like you've drank too much and you now cannot control your body. Your nervous system pings off a thousand signals and your body twitches and convulses. You can hear people around you even if it makes no sense and it lasts for as long as it does. Does that warrant a chest punch and she's doing this to herself? The lack of compassion is astounding. The closest thing I can compare it too is Opossums, playing dead isn't something they do its completely involuntary.

I learnt very early on that I had no space within Emergency because they told that to me "Why are you back here? We cannot help you, you're wasting a bed"

Whilst Sigmund was looking at Conversion and the whole you must have repressed memories of some type of trauma there was another man who's name I can't remember used the term functional to describe alterations within the nervous system. Unfortunately, his work was overshadowed by Sigmund's beliefs, and the medical field just ran with it.

Functional isn't a new term, in fact within the health setting it was used in the 1800s.

At the start of this writing I said I find myself in a very strange situation and the reason is this, while I just described how people can be misdiagnosed, the mistreatment and medical abuse. I myself do fall into the category of the mental health subset. When I write and share my experiences, I'm really careful to note that this is my experience and not all people have developed FND due to mental health. I have heard of people getting into car accidents, falling downstairs, after surgeries, after sickness such as the flu or vaccinations and even a person who had a brain tumour as a child. These are one off event that have led to the diagnosis with no past mental health or past trauma. So, I find myself in a sensitive space because I do not want my experiences to shape the readers ideas surrounding FND.

However, I cannot deny that I developed FND due to C-ptsd, adverse childhood events such as neglect, sexual and physical abuse. The fact is my Brain and Nervous System was under immense pressure since birth and if we want to throw into the mix living with a limb difference and the societal issues that comes with it, the bullying and being disabled in an ableist world. But also, that because I was born with that limb difference my brain is wired differently. A study was done and when people like myself use knees, mouth and residual arm ( elbow) to open up something the brains pathway of that hand actually lights up even though I do not physically have that hand, my brain registers those multiple body parts within that hand area of my brain, it's a cool little glitch.

My Brain and Nervous System has lived decades within a state of flight/ fight/ fawn and freeze states due to C-ptsd. C-pstd is an acquired brain injury if you can think of it like that, things were done to me at a time my little brain was trying to develop, synapses were forming when I was in an unsafe and scary environment and it changed my brain.

When I ask myself the question why did I develop FND? At the start I wouldn't have been able to see that my past had anything to do with it and looking back years later I chuckle, of course I was going too. My Nervous System was a ticking time bomb, a human body cannot sustain that dysfunction without some kind of consequence, and for me it was FND.

Now that isn't to say that everyone with C-ptsd will develop FND if that was the case we all would right? The statistics do not line up. My Psychologist did tell me that there is a very specific type of trauma that would lead to FND and I unfortunately had that specific type. So please if your reading this and you do have a diagnosis of C-ptsd don't freak out, it's OK if you haven't developed it yet I think you'll be ok. The fact still remains they don't really have a clear answer of the cause of FND. Hopefully if they do further research we may find out the why, however do you think they would waste time studying a Disorder that still has strong ties to mental health? I assume not.

There were more studies and awareness in regard to ME/CFS and POTS when Long Covid came out which was brilliant for the Chronic Illness Community, however the FND diagnosis did go up during this time and unfortunately it didn't get the traction it needed, and I suspect that is due to the old narratives. However, with this new awareness and research for POTS and ME/CFS I don't expect it to trickle down into the lives of those living with these conditions in the near future, I don't see any big changes in care unfortunately people are still dying due to ME/CFS.

I find it quite challenging to advocate for awareness for FND. And this is due to other mental health diagnosis; I do not want to ruin the hard work of the other advocates that raise awareness of FND. People are quick to make assumptions and lump people into categories. I also understand I have these feelings of shame due to C-ptsd I've spent so long being quiet and not sharing my lived experience. However, I cannot anymore, I have to advocate for FND. My hope is more studies be done, more awareness within the medical fields, re-teachings and moving away from the Conversion narrative. I hope for policy and procedure after diagnosis and a clear pathway of treatment that we do not have, and I hope that people with FND can have their diagnosis recognised for the purposes of supports.

For now, all I can do is share my experiences, my creative practices of visual art, poems and storytelling.

For myself my treatment now lays within the safe hands and confides of my trauma informed Psychologist's office.

Poem Book, Hand made, 2025.

Creating space for feeling.

Part Two

My current practise is autobiographical- chronicling my experiences since the year 2022 after a 'sudden' bout of Functional Neurological Disorder and Dysautonomia.

I use art as a tool to start conversations about disability and conditions as a form of advocacy. I also touch on topics that come with chronic illness such as learning to pace, listening to your body and the illusion of inclusion.

I found it quite hard at the start to carve out my little space on the internet via Instagram, a private account was where I shared my journey at the start. I felt protected with this private feature and over the years I became more comfortable with speaking my truth and using my words because they were felt, heard, respected and at times honored within this space.

The words were felt and resonated with other women battling the same conditions I live with, but a curious curator seemed to be my biggest fan. She could see my practise in its infancy and asked for myself to be a part of an exhibition, which led to myself being a part of the collective.

I can talk about Functional Neurological Disorder in a lived experience lense and from an observational one.

I can speak about how symptoms feel and effect myself, how I learnt to manage with what little tools I had.

I can also speak about FND and the wider issues people of FND face and their loved ones.

I can speak of the outdated views within the medical fields and lack of policy and procedure within the diagnosis period and the immense negative impacts that has.

I can talk about the gross misconceptions about FND and how that in turn causes medical trauma due to horrific experiences of nurses and doctors laughing at you or blatantly saying go away.

I can talk about how they do not have a clear cause yet due to under- funding and under- studying the condition itself.

and I can also talk about healthcare systems as a whole and talk about the poor treatment towards women. I can talk about FND's roots in Hysteria and conversion Disorder and how that has immense impacts still today.

I can even talk about our communities' lack of awareness and why I feel it isn't an accepted condition.

The fact is I'm great at banging on about my disabilities, I could talk someone's ear off about it. I live with a limb difference since birth, Functional Neurological Disorder, Dysautonomia and throw in a little bit of scoliosis. I'm fine with talking about all of these things because I feel I can advocate for them well enough.

However, the one condition that causes me the most grief on a daily basis, a condition that has been with me for a very long time, a condition I have just always experienced it's impacts without a second thought, a condition that impacts me so immensely it gave me a predisposition to have later on develop FND.

I just cannot talk about it i seem to go almost mute, my voice box feels fractured and my brain cannot understand. I cannot sit and type about it nor even talk about it in the same way I do my other conditions. I however, can talk about the anxiety, the panic attacks and the symptoms of it, but I cannot actually talk about it, I merely skate around it.

And that condition is C-ptsd.

For myself it's not something I can intellectualise because it then turns into a rumination loop. Visually I think about the crazed person with a cork board putting strings to connect random parts of unrelated information. And I certainly did do that after my diagnosis of FND, I couldn't work anymore so I had loads of time, I couldn't physically do so I had to sit with the Cptsd beastie for a while. And as humans we want to make sense of the world so I went back into memories and found connections and revelations. It did help me make sense of the experiences I have had in life and answered some questions about who I am as a person.

FND gave me so much space to sit with it and it felt cruel at times there I was trying to walk properly to the toilet and my mind is on my past trauma, I was already physically and mentally exhausted with trying to manage my newly disabled body. However, I do understand why it happened when it did; I ran away from myself for so long of course in a moment of stagnancy it would prop up.

Nonetheless I kept going on with my health journey, I spent time meditating, drawing, looking at flowers, creating my own floor yoga, reading. I also spent time learning breathwork, strength training and exercise. I also spent time learning that rest was ok, I spent time pacing my days with little bite sized pieces of activity.

But it was still there the C-ptsd, see it never really seems to go. It doesn't matter how much medication or talk therapy I did I was still affected by it every woken moment. You can certainly try to dodge it by disassociating but again that is just a symptom.

As the years went by with FND it seemed to have created such space whether I liked it at times or at times it felt so heavy watching the mundane clock tick over ever so slowly. I could do a drawing or I could spend three hours within my mind trying to make sense of life.

But It also gave me the space to reflect via art, to create something for others to bite down onto, it gave me the space to create my own voice which is now on a public account. FND has given myself the opportunity in a really messed up way to get to know myself.

Without FND I wouldn't have thought much about C-ptsd and I think the reason is this; the two demand to be felt. They don't want to be intellectualised they need to be felt first. Without FND I do wonder if I ever would have tried to access help via psychology again? Would I have just ran from it and disassociated my way through life?

FND made me feel in it's most brutal of ways an involuntary movement here, a burning Neurological sensation there and a seizure. But it also allowed me to feel those unsafe feelings again towards people. It felt so odd feeling fine for many years around certain people and all of a sudden my body wanted to run. It gave me all of the feelings I had stuffed down for so long. But at its roots it allowed me to feel again, and I think that it's weirdly beautiful.

FND also gave this gift of a complete inability to give the illusion that I am fine in situations of conflict or triggered. Acting like I wasn't upset and make myself small a previous behaviour, now my body acts like it's on a Broadway show and while I say I am fine my partner or any other human being would be able to tell I am not in fact fine.

FND has given me certain tools throughout the years. It has created a space within my life for looking and reflecting at my inner workings, to be able to talk as freely as I do now within my exhibitions and blog posts, it has given me an inner confidence and a strong stance towards injustice therefore I advocate more. It allowed myself to be the subject of my artistic practices for the first time within my creative endeavours. And it has shone a light on C-ptsd and slowly I am working with that with my psychologist. But most importantly it has allowed me to feel in its most fractured of ways.

This exhibition is keeping on the theme of chronicling my experiences. This exhibition is an ode to every adult who's inner child is wanting to be held, nourished and loved, this is for the inner child that wants to be felt and heard.

This exhibition is an ode to the quiet moments of silence, the tears shed alone, the invasive visual and audio flashbacks, the nightmares, the hypervigilance, the feeling of needing to make yourself small, this is an ode for the words never spoken, the nights awake and the thousand I'm fines.

Its an ode to the unseen moments when your stomach drops to the floor or your body flinching at a sudden noise. Always wary always on edge, the ever exhausting and all-consuming C-ptsd.

Creating Space, Mundaring Arts Centre, SICK AF Collective, 2026 Photography Josh Wells.

Creating space for healing.

Part three

Sitting within the confines of my psychologist's office in Port Adelaide. Low lighting and no strong smells permeate, a collection of books on a bookshelf along with trinkets that have been collected over the years of her practice. Stuffed toys, fidget spinners and tactile toys are strategically placed close by to the chair the client sits on, along with tissues and a bin. This is a safe area to dissociate if needed and a brilliant place to bring yourself back by looking and naming off what you see; a visual delight.

'I find myself often dissociating whilst talking with my psychologist and it's so nice to bring myself back into focus with the imagery of the room and the soft and caring voice of my psychologist.'

This is a safe place to hug a toy and self soothe, you can rock in the chair if you feel like you need movement or you can put your feet up and feel the chair hug you its curvature feels like a hug, molding to your body, It's a neurodivergent delight and a judgement free zone.

You can get up and stand if your body needs it, a place of no judgement rather a place of curiosity.

This is a safe space the building holds different companies a disability employment agency and a gym made for disabled people for those who enjoy working out. This is a place of adaption, the toilets are large and the sinks are low. The elevator isn't a one-way entry and exit, you don't need to try to turn around your wheelchair to get out, the other doors waiting to open.

This is a safe space to feel your feelings, and it feels rather strange. Living with C-ptsd I had learnt to suppress my feelings and it feels as though I have a lifetime of feelings to explore. Some feelings are so big they feel as if there consuming the entire room. And at times, it feels like they can leech out from the bottom of the doors crack if I'm not careful. The air feels so thick, heavy and dense within these moments, we sit within the chaos and explore it together. The feelings stay for as long as they need because they demand to be felt, they are honoured and held. After the room returns to lightness again concreting the known; this is a safe space.

This office is far from clinical I've been in many throughout my life and there is such a big difference. It's curated with care, it wasn't created without thought process in fact it was created so strategically for patients with trauma. This is her dojo, all of her years of learning and unlearning, for years many patients have walked in and out of the areas she's worked in, and what stuck with her was the hidden underlining unspoken words from her patients with complex trauma and that is safety; she's carefully created space.

The messy ball of interwoven trauma the thing that boils over and comes out like tangled vomit within sessions. The interwoven connections between the hurt adult and the inner child so desperately wanting to be seen. The juxtaposition between the two, in order to heal the hurt adult, you need to work with the child that resides. The child that felt like they didn't belong, that something was wrong with them to endure all of the torment. The adult whose nervous systems were built by trauma, the old maladaptive patterns that once served a purpose now cause total chaos within their daily lives.

The threads are looked at and slowly teased away from the knots with niggly, uncertain and nervy feelings. Within my body resides C-ptsd and Functional Neurological Disorder, nerve pain pulsates. Within my body resides an earthquake, tremors shake.

Safety for me is foreign and unknown territory and I'm wary, but I can say with conviction; this is a safe space.

Interwoven, Creating Space, SICK AF Collective, Josh Wells Photography.

Interwoven.

The child's gown is stitched heal in red and dyed black, the adult's gown is stitched hurt in black and dyed red. The black is symbolic of the start of the base of trauma that consumes a child's life; the events. The red is symbolic of the effects of trauma later on in life as an adult living with C-ptsd.

The word HURT is symbolic of the adult living with C-ptsd and the word HEAL is symbolic of the tapping into the inner child in order to start to untangle the roots of trauma.

Both gowns are tied together by singular black strings depicting the survival patterns and a singular red thread stands in place an acknowledgement of the start of my healing journey in any shape that may form and shows the start of a lifelong undoing of the old patterns.

My aim is to within reflection of the work I do throughout the years, add more red thread over the years.

The child gown holds shape it feels almost confident, happy while the adult gowns natural pose is shying away from the child symbolic of the disconnect between the two and the hiding of the emotions of deep hurt one feels living with C-ptsd.