This week’s meeting centred on Mental Health Month and our speaker the Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women, the Hon. Bronnie Taylor was hard-pressed to convey all she wanted to in the time she so generously afforded us.
Her central point was the important role of local, community networks to support the wellbeing of individuals and reduce the worrying incidence of self-harm. Many from these local organisations in the Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby area attended our meeting and one of them, Helen Jarvis of KYDS, spoke about their recent work to formalise their collaboration in order to avoid duplication, work jointly to obtain funding and make it easier for people to find the particular service most pertinent to their needs.
The meeting also included the induction of new member Chaneg Torres who will represent the field of Public Policy and will join the Community Committee.
Takeway points for Members’ reference
(see story below)
- Fines for all who didn’t wear a hat to the Mental Health meeting. Pay to the Red Box in this bulletin (top right).
- Youth Committee’s online auction has opened at 32auction. All members are asked to register asap. Bob Howe has sent an email. (see story below).
- Dr Fung CEO of YESS (a visitor to our meeting) recommended "Head to Health" a government website for finding valuable mental health resources including apps and programmes https://headtohealth.gov.au/about-us
John Cameron introduced Bronnie by giving an outline of her professional journey from Cancer Care nurse through regional community activism for better local health services and then to local government and finally to her present position as NSW Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women (in addition to her life roles of farmer, wife and mother).
The Minister began by assuring us that whatever anxiety and depression we may be feeling at present is normal in a year that has included drought stress, bushfire tragedy and COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation and economic recession. She then went on to speak of the importance of community action at the local, granular level to provide wellness initiatives that can reduce the rate of self-harm and suicide in our society.
The Minister began by assuring us that whatever anxiety and depression we may be feeling at present is normal in a year that has included drought stress, bushfire tragedy and COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation and economic recession. She then went on to speak of the importance of community action at the local, granular level to provide wellness initiatives that can reduce the rate of self-harm and suicide in our society.
She mentioned government-initiated pilot programmes placing mental health counsellors in police stations and training Tradies to be trainers in mental health support, as well as targeting vocations which have a high suicide rate with training programmes. We take for granted the presence of a First Aid and Safety Officer at workplaces and sporting venues, she said, and a mental health worker is just as important.
Similarly, in schools the government is seeking to provide training for teachers and lesson plans on mental health and wellness through the REACH programme. There are a lot of services available, she said and spoke positively of the take-up by young people of online mental health services such as the new ‘warm line’ offered by BEING and funded by government to provide phone and online support by peer workers who have themselves walked the journey of mental health challenges.
Nonetheless, she acknowledged that there is a problem with waiting lists for mental health services, that a lot falls to GPs as the front line of mental health support in a community and that the gap of $50-$100 between Medicare rebate and the cost of a psychologist is too much for many people who need the help. The recent Federal Budget has increased the mental health visits from 10 to 20.
The Minister told us that an announcement would soon be made about an initiative in conjunction with our local services and our Club to assist at the ‘granular’ level of mental health support with community collaborations to make it easier for people to seek help.
John Cameron then called on the Minister to comment on the growing waiting times and whether money will be available to help the Club and local organisations to address this. The Minister responded by saying that the great benefit of action at the local level is that it can pivot quickly to meet arising needs whereas the ship of state takes a very long time to change course. The Minister said that there will be an announcement soon on these community collaborative arrangements.
The Local collaborative community organisations about which Helen Jarvis spoke - include
Catholic Care - Waitara Family Centre Manager - Angela Whitby
CCNB - Community Capital Foundation - CEO - Dr Gary Jacobson
CCNB - Services and Community Development and Wings of Hope - Director - Marika Kontellis
KYDS Youth Development Service - CEO - Dr Anthony Rigney
Phoenix House - CEO - Edmund Cruz
StreetWork - CEO - Helen Banu
The Northern Centre - CEO - Cate Sinclair
YESS (Parramatta Mission) - CEO - Dr Paul Fung
GP in Schools - Dr James Ibrahim
Headspace (New Horizons) - Operations Manager - Mike Cummings
Mission Australia - Northern Sydney Area Manager - Rachelle Elphick