Why Ilsa Wakeling’s “challenge network” is key to her success

When Ilsa Wakeling dropped three dress sizes in two weeks she approached her boss to discuss her health. His response floored her.

It was 2020 and Wakeling, a Senior Sergeant with Victoria Police, was thriving at work. She had undertaken a degree and was working towards a promotion. Yet, the stress of major change in her personal life was weighing heavily on her health.

“I was going through a separation. I had a lot of things on my plate at the time, and then obviously looking at promotion,” Wakeling, now Acting Superintendent with Victoria Police, told Helen McCabe in FW’s Too Much podcast.

“So I think my basket was just too full.”

Juggling work life and changes at home with a child, Wakeling did the best she could. Yet, everyday tasks including food intake proved a challenge.

Even when she was eating healthily, her body broke out in a rash.

Concerned it was lupus, she went to her dermatologist to have it checked out.

“I then dropped about three dress sizes at the time. I was around about a [size] 10 or 11 and I went down to about a six, nearly seven, within two weeks, and knew something significant was wrong.”

Wakeling approached her boss.

“I said to my boss, I’m really not doing great,” she said.

“I was doing upgrading at the time, so I was an Acting Inspector, and his response to me was, ‘Well, are you up to the job?’ And that probably surprised me. It took me back a little bit, because I was surprised that that kind of comment was thrown at me in that era.

“So my response was, ‘I’m fine. I’ll handle it. Leave me with it’. And I thought I’m just not going to go into that, again. I’ll have to just deal with this myself.”

Thankfully, this wasn’t the case. She had a couple of friends at work who were aware of her health issues and stepped in.

“They banded together with me to work out how we would actually get through this process. So there were certain things – at the time I had photosensitivity so I couldn’t be out in the sunlight,” she said.

“We obviously had a lot of things going on at the time. So instead of being out in the sunlight, I got to do more strategic work, and they assisted me in being in the sunlight and doing the things that I was not able to do physically.”

Tests revealed Wakeling had the autoimmune disease dermatomyositis – a rare condition that causes muscle inflammation, muscle weakness and skin rashes.

Around the same time she received her diagnosis, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and lockdowns were enforced. Looking back, Wakeling said it was a blessing in disguise.

“The support network was helping me out, giving me encouragement. My challenge network was still keeping me real about it.”

“With the disease, I needed to be locked down, I needed to not be in direct sunlight and so that protected me. I think that also protected me to be honest with my mental health. Had I been locked down by myself, while everyone else could just be free, it may have affected me a lot more than what it had,” she said.

“But knowing that everybody else was having to sit at home and do their own personal training or watch Netflix, then I felt like I wasn’t any different to anybody else.”

Despite being in lockdown, she still needed treatment for her condition – including going to hospital every six weeks.

During COVID she relied on the support of her family and of her challenge network – a group of trusted people who provide transparent feedback to help an individual improve.

“I’ve always felt value in having both. The support network was the one where mum was making sure that I was okay, helping me out, giving me support, and giving me encouragement. My challenge network was still keeping me real about it,” she said.

“You know, don’t be stupid about this, or have you thought about this, and just really checking me on things, not necessarily always patting me on the back saying how great I was.”

These days, Wakeling is managing her health. She continues to seek treatment every six weeks.

In her professional life, she’s using her own experience to help others.

“We are working through our welfare services at the moment to grow and adopt it more to support people in any circumstance of health, safety or wellbeing,” she said.

This includes wellbeing hubs which focus on psychosocial wellbeing, and health and wellbeing.

“Currently, there are processes that have been put into play to assist and support our members on the front line,” she said.

“Not just us sitting in that ivory tower and expecting that this is going to all work perfectly, but understanding from our members perspective, what is actually going on and how we can assist them, which will probably be formulated somewhat around those regulations.”