Bush Summit: $10m funding boost for rural mental health fight
The state government is raising the stakes in the fight against rural suicide with a $10 million boost with The Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit set to shine a light on mental health support in the regions
NSW
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Specialist mental health support is being boosted in the state’s regions with 15 counsellor roles focused on driving down an unacceptably high rate of suicide in the bush.
Two full-time clinicians have started work in Jindabyne and Cooma, where The Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit will this week shine a light on mental health support for the state’s regions.
The state government is spending $10 million to boost mental health support in the regions, as part of the Premier’s Priority to reduce the suicide rate across NSW to 8.7 per 100,000 people by 2023.
Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor said the new counsellors would provide an extra layer of help for bush communities where the rate was higher than in the city.
“These specialist mental health counsellors are there on the ground to support people thinking of suicide or impacted by suicide, and I encourage communities across the state to lean on them for support,” she said.
Mental health and resilience in rural communities will be a key aspect of the Bush Summit this week which will hear from state minister Andrew Constance, who was heavily impacted by the summer bushfires. Rural Aid professional counsellor Gary Bentley will also address the summit, alongside Resilience NSW commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons and NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle.
The Eurobodalla and Snowy Mountains communities are the first to have access to the dedicated rural counsellors such as Samara Byrne who said she wanted young people to know there were people to turn to when they were feeling overwhelmed.
In addition to 15 specialist health workers, almost 30 roving counsellors are giving isolated farmers someone to talk to over the farm gate.
The government is spending almost $5 million to extend the work of “farm gate counsellors” like Robert ‘Butch’ Young. He is one of 27 counsellors who travel throughout rural and regional NSW giving farmers “someone to talk to”.
“They need company – someone who’s prepared to get in the car, go out there and be there (to) have a cup of tea, sit down and just listen,” he said.
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WHERE THE COUNSELLORS ARE:
· Hunter New England – 2 x FTE (full time equivalent), based in Maitland
· Southern NSW – 2 x 1.5 FTE, based in Batemans Bay and Jindabyne
· Far West – 2 x FTE, based in Broken Hill and Dareton
· Illawarra Shoalhaven – 1 x FTE, based in Nowra Ulladulla
· Northern NSW – 2 x FTE, based in Lismore and Tweed
· Nepean Blue Mountains – 1x FTE, based in Lithgow
· Mid-North Coast – 1 x FTE
· Western NSW – 2 x FTE
· Murrumbidgee – 2 positions