Community-led response needed for rural suicide say affected Benalla locals
These brave Benalla women are all too familiar with the toll that rural suicide has on small communities. So they’re fighting to change the mental health system.
THROUGH unimaginable grief and loss, two Benalla locals are spreading messages of positivity and support to others affected by suicide in regional areas.
Karina Walker and Gayle Golonski are members of an action group in the town and are using their experiences to shape the community health response around mental health and suicide.
Ms Walker has had a long battle with mental health, her first experience with suicide was when she tried to take her own life at 15 years of age.
“I found myself thinking that suicide was an everyday part of my existence, like it followed me around,” she said.
After losing both her partner and a member of the Scout group she looked after to suicide, Ms Walker decided she wanted to be more “hands-on” in helping her community gain access to support to deal with suicide and the aftermath.
“I want people to know there’s no shame, no stigma, it’s part of our community fabric but we can change that,” she said.
For Mrs Golonski she saw first-hand how the devastation can affect friends, family and the wider community when she lost two grandchildren to suicide.
She said more targeted and persistent support was needed, after seeing the difficulties her immediate family faced in the months following her grandchildren’s deaths.
“For myself I am hoping that much more assistance for pre-teens will be available and men’s mental health is also a big issue,” she said.
Ms Walker said while the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System was well-received and much-needed, community-specific solutions would be needed to ensure reform.
“We need long-term support that is based on the community,” she said.
“They need to understand that in a small community, suicide touches the collective – it’s collective grief. You most likely will know the person, or know the family,” Ms Walker said.
“It’s so important that a town like Benalla doesn’t get labelled as a town that has a high suicide rate and that’s all — we want to get those messages of positivity out there as well.”
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