This year’s community conference will include presentations and stallholder information on mental health services and wellbeing, improving health outcomes in communities and contemporary engagement models.
WNSWLHD Community Engagement Lead Jennifer Coote said she is thrilled with the line-up for the conference and looks forward to engaging with the community to improve the District’s mental health services.
“The District is committed to ensuring access to safe, high-quality, timely and culturally safe mental health care for our community,” Ms Coote said.
“The conference is an opportunity for our staff to provide information about our mental health services and the good work being done by our teams, and also to really engage and collaborate with community members and other service providers.
“It’s a free event and with the theme of ‘Let’s talk about it’ we hope to have community members attending and getting involved on the day. It’s an opportunity for attendees to learn something new and maybe even take something back to their communities to implement locally.
“These discussions can really help to build relationships and trust between the Local Health District, our partners and communities and also help inform how we design and deliver services to meet the needs of our communities.”
The conference will showcase presentations from both WNSWLHD staff and partner organisations about the importance of consumer involvement in research, how communities can be supported to be mentally healthy and co-design of services with consumers and partners.
Ms Coote said there will also be a pre-conference masterclass on offer, the day before the main event.
“The masterclass ‘Building a culture of engagement and partnerships’ is being offered free of charge to participants and will explore tools and resources to support partnerships between community representatives and organisations. Community representatives and staff will have the opportunity to explore the principles of co-design and workshop ideas for their communities.”
Event details:
- Pre-conference Masterclass – Monday, 21st October 2024, 2.00pm - 4.30pm, Dubbo RSL Memorial Club, 178 Brisbane Street, Dubbo.
- 2024 Community Conference – Tuesday, 22nd October 2024, 9.00am - 3.30pm, Dubbo RSL Memorial Club, 178 Brisbane Street, Dubbo.
To register for these events, visit the Engage Western NSW Health website.
WNSWLHD operates the largest rural mental health service in NSW, including acute community mental health services, acute mental health inpatient services in Dubbo and Orange (from the Bloomfield Hospital) and a sub-acute inpatient service in Bathurst. It also operates the virtual Mental Health Emergency Care (MHEC) service that provides 24/7 access to mental health specialists.
There are 4 Rural Mental Health Program (RAMHP) Coordinators (non-clinical roles) operating out of WNSWLHD. These coordinators educate, encourage and link people and communities to mental health and other support services where and when it is needed.
WNSWLHD also has response and recovery specialists who provide support for communities and coordination with local services at the time of a disaster or crisis and during the ongoing recovery phase. WNSWLHD is funded for 8 Farm Gate Counsellors and Rural Peer Support Workers and 1 Disaster recovery Clinician (shared with Far West LHD) who provide outreach and coordination with local services and communities.
The Rural Counselling initiative funds counselling positions in Parkes and Dubbo, recognising disproportionate suicide rates in rural areas and challenges to accessible mental health support. Rural Counsellors support people experiencing psychosocial hardship, suicidal distress, or recovering from a suicide attempt, including Aboriginal people, farmers, people released from custody, and those who live on remote properties.
Community members can access mental health support 24 hours a day by calling crisis services such as Lifeline (13 11 14); 13YARN, which offers crisis counselling for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (13 92 76); Suicide Callback Service (1300 659 467); BeyondBlue (1300 224 636); and Kids Helpline (1800 551 800); and the Mental Health Line (1800 011 511).
Support for people bereaved and impacted by suicide is also available through StandBy Support After Suicide by calling 1300 727 247 or Thirrili’s Postvention Suicide Support service by calling 1800 805 801.
Media enquiries: WNSWLHD-Communications@health.nsw.gov.au
