Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Special Projects of the Bowral Mental Health Service

One of the longest serving members of the Bowral Mental Health Service works within their Rehabilitation and Recovery program. Trained as a teacher he has, for the past 16 years, been at the forefront of the service by encouraging people with an existing and chronic mental illness to re-engage with the community in which they live and to develop a sense of connectedness with the world around them. Improving self-worth and self-esteem in the person with the mental illness has been his primary focus. In 2002 this worker took on the additional task of looking at how the Bowral Mental Health Service could best engage the community in supporting prevention programs to impact on mental illness in the local community. That is, encourage mental and physical health, provide guidance, training and education, and garner community support and understanding for those in the community who suffered, or were affected by, mental illness. From the beginning the Bowral Mental Health Service was able to provide support for two primary organisations: Wingecarribee Health Association for Men Inc (WHAM Inc) and the Southern Highlands Suicide Prevention Program Inc (SHSPP Inc). WHAM was initially designed to give some guidance to the local Health Service for dealing with depression and stress among males in the community. What the worker was able to achieve was to establish WHAM Inc as a peak organisation which was able to drive other programs that encouraged males to engage with the health services and general practitioners who provided support and treatment for physical and psychological issues. By forming partnerships with other organisations WHAM Inc was able to initiate the funding necessary for the development of the Bowral Men's Shed, a facility for retired men to pass on their skills and training to other socially isolated men, while at the same time providing products to be used in the community by organisations such as villages and nursing homes. The concept of the Men's Shed was one promoted by the Uniting Church's Welfare Services. It is now fitting that the Uniting Church in Bowral has continued (and increased) their involvement in the Bowral Shed. The other project that WHAM Inc undertook was the development and conduct of the Men's Health Rego Checks. Based on a seminal program from Western Australia, the Rego Checks were modified for use in the Bowral area. They have been conducted at premier events in the community such as Australia Day and Tulip Time, as well as being requested by local businesses that recruit a predominantly male workforce. More recently, WHAM Inc has formed a partnership with Moss Vale TAFE and with Anglicare to conduct the Mentoring towards Manhood program. In this partnership male volunteers from the community are trained in mentoring by the Moss Vale TAFE. They are then introduced to male students from the Moss Vale High School whao are assigned work experience in Anglicare's Community Garden Project. In this project young males from the school, who are finding school life somewhat difficult, are allowed to use the garden project as part of their on-going education requirements. The volunteer mentors are each assigned a young person, with the plan to teach them practical skills and team work. The produce grown by the students is theirs to use in whatever way they like. The skills they acquire remain with them forever. Is the program a success? Just ask any of the young people or their mentors and they will give a resounding "yes!". WHAM Inc has also collaborated with SHSPP Inc in order to explore the economies gained by the two organisations working together. After all, part of WHAM's genesis was in the local health service's response to the significant number of deaths of males at a local town about 12 years ago. SHSPP Inc, promotes awareness in the community of the help that is available to people who are suffering from depression and who may feel that they have no supports to turn to. Promotion is by the distribution of publications such as help cards and brochures through doctor's practices, pubs and clubs. It promotes all of the usual helping agencies such as LifeLine and Men's Line, as well as the local services, with information about how to access them. The second means of promotion is to provide community forums and training through LifeLine or Lifeforce. These forums are advertised through the local media - press and radio. They are free to the community and provide strategies and insight into the thinking of a depressed and stressed person who may be contemplating suicide. The fact that we have these excellent and often unique programs in the Southern Highlands is due to the innovative approach adopted by this excellent worker, in researching the projects, forming partnerships with other organisations, and sourcing the funds necessary to bring about their existence. Fortunately, the staff member of the Bowral Mental Health Service has been recognised recently by the local health service for this tremendous work, which is additional to his core business in the rehabilitation and recovery service of the Bowral Mental Health Service.

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