Suicide-prevention and the need for better support services in Eden was the focus of last week’s Aboriginal ‘Social and Emotional Well-being’ (SEWB) Community Meeting.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
More than 30 Koori and non-Koori community members attended the meeting at Eden’s Log Cabin on Thursday July 21, which was hosted by Grand Pacific Health and attended by many social services’ representatives including Wandarma, AIME, SPAN, Social Justice Advocates, and St Vincent de Paul.
Grand Pacific Health counsellor and community educator Liz Doyle said many heart-felt stories were shared, including by Sonya Payne who “spoke passionately about her attempts to assist a friend who did finally take her own life”.
“(Sonya) spoke of the need to establish a contact support group within Eden to overcome issues of isolation from services and lack of support,” Ms Doyle said.
Wandarma’s Rhonda Clark told the meeting of a women’s group facilitated by Wandarma in Eden, and Dennis Scott discussed the Deadly Dads program aimed at assisting men in difficulty.
“He also spoke very kindly about the strength of the elders in the Eden community and the assistance he has found there,” Ms Doyle said.
Social Justice Advocates’ John Liston spoke of the Kids Help Line, Eden Futures Project’s Paul Morris called for a better networking facility, and Twofold Aboriginal Corporation’s program manager Alison Simpson focused on how best to provide suicide-prevention services.
“There was a strong focus on suicide,” Ms Simpson reported on Monday.
“For me personally, I feel that issues in any community – whether they be addiction, the misuse or abuse of drugs and/or alcohol, mental health issues including depression, anxiety, fear and even suicide - are all symptoms of underlying trauma, grief and loss that people haven’t dealt with.
“People often don’t know they’ve suffered or are suffering with trauma. And like a physical wound, unless it is treated with the appropriate care, how do you expect it to heal? If it doesn’t heal, it festers and gets worse. Quite often, people will turn to other treatments to make themselves feel better such as self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. The only problem is, their issue often worsens rather than improves.”
Ms Simpson said she is looking forward to working together with others to “come up with a solid plan to start addressing the issues within the community.”
