SWAN Hill resident Carina Byrne has always had a love of music.
Her living room walls are adorned with photographs of her favourite artists, which include the Bay City Rollers, ACDC and Rose Tattoo.
“I just love music. I play it all the time,” she said.
After growing up in a farming family, Ms Byrne moved to Swan Hill in 2003, where she took on a farm manager role at a local piggery.
Over the years she’s explored many passions and has gained various qualifications along the way.
She became a Justice of the Peace, volunteering her time to help others, obtained her pilot’s licence and undertook further study to become a qualified chef after landing a job as a general cook in a local pub.
“They kept referring to me as the chef but I wasn’t so I decided to get my qualifications and become one,” she said.
Looking back on her achievements over the years, Ms Byrne said while she’d had a “busy life”, she’d also encountered many challenges which had proved to be major setbacks, taking a toll on her health.
“That was me in a past life,” she said, acknowledging her accomplishments.
“That’s not me now.”
Faced with adversity, Ms Bryne continues to seek treatment for severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
“You don’t know what’s around the corner,” she said.
“You just have to continue to put one foot in front of the other.”
While living with PTSD has been difficult, music has continued to play an important role in her ongoing treatment.
Ms Bryne has been volunteering at Swan Hill’s Community Radio Station 99.1 – Smart FM, producing her own radio segment entitled ‘Let’s spin another one’.
“I first started volunteering there to help with my mental health and to get me out of the house,” she said.
“It was a little overwhelming at first, like a big jigsaw puzzle with all the different buttons and controls, but I love it.”
Playing everything from the 1950s through to the early ’80s, Ms Bryne said the experience had been an eye-opener but one she had thoroughly enjoyed.
Through NDIS, Ms Bryne also receives ongoing support with KAC Care.
Ms Bryne said she was grateful for the help and support they had provided, enabling her to extend beyond her comfort zone and take part in more community-based activities.
“It’s been absolutely wonderful and has allowed me to get out of the house more.”
In her spare time, Ms Bryne enjoys watching documentaries, knitting beanies for the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, pottering around her garden and spending time with her rescue cats, which have helped her through her bad days.
Ms Bryne has good days and bad days, and while she still has a long way to go with her recovery, she said she would like to see a world full of a little more compassion where people were more accepting of others.
“There’s always someone worse off than you,” she said.
“I’m a firm believer that you have to remember the past to create a better future.”
