Mental Health Services Volunteers
| About this Item |
Subjects | Mental Health; Voluntary Workers |
Speakers | Hay Ms Noreen; Gaudry Mr Bryce |
Business | Private Members Statements, Committee |
Page: 7206
Ms NOREEN HAY (Wollongong) [10.59 a.m.]: The stigma that surrounds mental illness ensures that in some cases it is extremely difficult for organisations to raise funds and gain support from the community for people with mental illness and their carers. Other illnesses, especially childhood illnesses, are more accepted by the community and are, therefore, supported more readily. I was extremely honoured to meet a small band of volunteers in my electorate who are passionate and incredibly dedicated to making our community a better place to live and to improving the outcomes for people who have mental health issues and their families. In the past two years volunteers have been involved in policy formulation, sitting on important committees, endeavouring to shape positive change in the delivery of health care services, supporting individuals in their life journeys, mentoring, forming and running support groups, guiding recovery, promoting mental health as a public issue, promoting prevention of mental illness, liaising with different groups and liaising with and making representations to politicians.
In my area the Consumer Carer Consultation Committee [CCCC] is the core committee whose members are mostly volunteers. The committee is growing in numbers and strength. The decision to form the Mental Health Week working party came from that group, and it has achieved incredible things. It has been graced with three awards, including local awards and the prestigious Mental Health Association award for community participation. To find a way to engage the community and the media in a positive way is no small feat for mental health advocates, but those volunteers have done so.
The CCCC members are working in conjunction with the New South Wales Consumer Advisory Group to formulate the Consumer and Carer Strategic plan, which will give guidance in consumer and carer participation both within the service and within the community. There are volunteers who have dedicated their time over many years: Peter Hutton, the people from the MIDDAS, Brett Gole, Yvonne Eman and Col Levy, and volunteers who have only joined the group in the past year such as Grant Ford, Jenny Malligan and others. The enthusiasm and knowledge of these is combined with the wisdom and perseverance of longer serving volunteers. It is a wonderful team.
The partnerships being formed with the community service clubs such as Rotary and Lions ensure that connection with the community is growing stronger all the time. Noel Causer and the Corrimal Rotary Club, Robyn Doherty and Bulli Rotary, and Dapto Rotary Club are braving the weather together. Wollongong, Kiama and Minnamurra Rotary Clubs have all been wonderful in the support provided to volunteers. I should add to this list the Kiama Lions Club, which was outstanding in its help during the tornado-like weather on the day the Fruitcake Family Fun Day was held. A magnificent team offers hope where there is often little acknowledgement of mental health issues.
The volunteers are endeavouring to ensure that an educated, caring community exists for all people, especially those with mental health issues. Until such time as the level of mental illness in our community is acknowledged more openly, a great deal of hope is founded in the volunteers. I have spoken a number of times about mental illness and the failure by us as a society to recognise its different forms. There is still a stigma that suggests that a particular group of people suffer from mental illness and that they display it in a particular way. Many mental health issues, particularly in males, develop in the teenage years. Because of the attitude of young men, who do not want to admit to having particular problems and do not want to seek help, the mental illness then deteriorates over a period of time. The symptoms of mental illness may not be recognised until people are in their late thirties or forties, but the problems certainly start early. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the volunteers and ask them to accept my appreciation for all the hard work they do behind the scenes, both in the wards and in the community.
Mr BRYCE GAUDRY (Newcastle—Parliamentary Secretary) [11.04 a.m.]: I thank the honourable member for Wollongong for again bringing this matter before the House. Every one of us knows of people with a mental illness. We understand the need to better resource mental health issues in the community and we thank those people, such as the Consumer and Carer Consultative Committee, who spend time as volunteers servicing the day-to-day needs of those with mental illness. In the area of Newcastle, which I represent, groups such as Association of Relatives and Friends of the Mentally Ill, the Sunflower Club, the Schizophrenia Fellowship and the Kaiyu Clubhouse, service the needs of the Lake Macquarie area. They are all volunteers, and often they have suffered from a mental health disorder, severe or otherwise. They gather together to give assistance to those in their community who have a mental illness. The families and carers of individuals suffering from a mental illness are placed in a terrible situation. Those who give support should be congratulated, and the honourable member for Wollongong has done that today.