Deni Mental Health Awareness Group ( Deni MHAG) , in partnership with Deniliquin Local Health Advisory Committee has secured funding to run a mental health campaign over the next three months.
The campaign “We care about your mental health” has been an initiative that has come about with lots of feedback received from the community about not always knowing where to go for help when someone might be needing help for their mental wellbeing.
“During Covid-19 there was a lot of talk about increased mental health problems and presentations, . With lots of services changing to online and telehealth, and increase in the number of Medicare sessions for counselling, it increased access for many people who would otherwise had to travel or find their way to a face to face consultation in difficult circumstances. Deni MHAG wanted to make sure people have all of the information and to make sure they were assured that there are in fact a wide range of services available, both when people are seeking counselling longer term, or needing a crisis intervention “.
“As with many services in health, mental health services have also been streamlined to be accessed through central intake lines, and it is important people understand what this looks like and when these services can be accessed”. We know this does not suit everyone, but it is an efficient way to make contact and to be given accurate information about what is available and where to go “.
This campaign will also highlight the fact that mental health is a health problem, and as with any health problem, one can always present to your local GP or to the emergency department. It is simply just not accurate when statements are made that there are no services locally when someone might be suicidal or needing help immediately. In fact, this is a very unsafe and unhelpful message to put out into the community.
We know Christmas can be a tough time for some people, and we wanted to make sure people had the information to look for help if needed.
The community is encouraged to follow our Deni MHAG Facebook page , where we will posting some blogs in addition to the campaign, and to also visit our fantastic webpage www.denimentalhealth.org.au for information on all our services available in Deniliquin.
This campaign has been made possible by funding obtained from the Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network ( MPHN) Community Grants and funding has also been allocated by NSW Health, through Murrumbidgee Local Health District for this campaign. This collaboration will eventually see this campaign being used across all of Murrumbidgee, and posters will made available to a number of organisations and other advisory committees to use in their communities.
We are once again working collaboratively with Sivonne Binks, from Hello Sivonne, who has been just fantastic in capturing messages we want to bring to the community, in a succinct and effective way. We continue to value the support of the PT in all of our work we do to make sure the community is informed and can get the help they need, when and if they need it.
