AFTER the devastating loss of Balranald residents to suicide, a group of volunteers have decided to take action.

Improving skills to deal with mental health concerns is at the centre of the efforts, according to Strengthening Community Access, Inclusion and Wellbeing Advisory Committee chair Rachael Williams.

“In the past six months, we’ve lost three people (to suicide), so we’ve had an incredibly difficult time as a community,” Ms Williams said.

“And we realised that we need to be upskilling our community to deal with mental health.”

Ms Williams, who grew up in Balranald, works with nine other volunteers seeking to ensure the wellbeing of people living in the Balranald Shire.

The lack of professional support in the area spurred a request Living Works to deliver a safeTALK training session for suicide prevention.

The free session will be held on Thursday next week, June 27, from 12.30pm to 4.30pm.

“It’s really scary to have someone express suicidal ideation to you, or thoughts of self-harm and deep sadness, and knowing how to deal with all of that,” Ms Williams said.

“We are mindful that there is an absence of support from state and federal government in terms of mental health, and we’re not letting them off the hook since they need to be doing more for all communities in this space.

“But in the meantime, we are not going to let our community continue to struggle and battle this like they are, because we can’t keep seeing this happen.”

SCAIWAC is also looking to select 10 people across the shire to pursue mental health first-aid training after receiving grant funding from the Office of Responsible Gambling.

“We could have used the funding to bring a clinician to our community, but we wanted a sustainable, long-term solution that is about building our own capacity as a community with our own local people,” Ms Williams said.

Despite Balranald being a small community, Ms Williams feared people could still succumb to depression through isolation and loneliness.

She said regional communities like Balranald were grappling with stigmas related to mental health.

“Most people in Balranald are connected in some way,” she said. 

“But having said that, there are also people who fly under the radar and are feeling incredibly isolated. The stigma around mental health is still very real.

“People in rural communities have these expectations like being resilient and with that comes things like, ‘We don’t complain, and we get things done’.

“While they are beautiful qualities to have, that ethos of not complaining and just getting on with the job probably doesn’t serve people well if they’re battling a mental health concern.”

Ms Williams said initiatives like headspace in Swan Hill had made great efforts to help the community in Balranald, however more support was needed from within the area.

“They are under-resourced, too, and have waiting lists,” she said.

“Mallee Domestic Violence Services are in the same boat. They used to do solid outreach into the Balranald community, but they are back to doing appointments based in Swan Hill at the moment because they’re understaffed.”

Along with a shortage of services in the community including medical services, the town is put at further disadvantage with a lack of public transport and an ageing population without access to a vehicle.

“We have a considerable amount of socioeconomic disadvantage,” Ms Williams said.

“Even if they might have a car, they might not be able to afford fuel to travel out of town for services.

“We are short of health and wellbeing professionals across the board.

“The people who need to receive mental health support the most in the community are completely locked out of receiving that.

“But we do have great services like Maari Ma, the Aboriginal health service who do amazing work.

“We also have great local organisations and they work particularly well when they’re headed by local people who are invested in the community.”

“While our community is deeply heartbroken by the loss of people to suicide, we’re absolutely committed to changing that trajectory because we are a really beautiful community.”

To register, email Emma Moore ([email protected]) or Rachael Williams ([email protected]).