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THE mother of a teenage suicide victim says the Border desperately needs a headspace centre now and not in a year’s time.
Teena Conway yesterday spoke out in support of the one-stop youth mental health service at a suicide prevention forum in Albury.
The federal government says the Border could be considered in the July round of announcements but Ms Conway, whose son Zac died two years ago, said she’d be pushing for quicker action.
“If I had my way it would be before then,” she said.
Her calls won the support of forum convenor Sebastian Rosenberg.
“That’s clearly an issue; you have a large population and you don’t have a headspace … it seems to me to be a natural next step,” he said.
“Like Dubbo and Goulburn, Albury-Wodonga is one of the larger regional centres and appears to be crying out for a headspace.”
Laura Koehler, whose sister Aimee died five months ago, echoed Ms Conway’s call.
“I’m glad I came to the forum but my priorities still lie with pushing headspace,” she said.
More than 100 people filled the conference room at the Albury Entertainment Centre for one of the last of the NSW government’s 10 regional suicide prevention forums.
A range of issues, strategies and solutions were discussed in the four-hour meeting: a lack of mental health services or awareness of what does exist; a lack of suicide-specific counselling; overworked GPs ill-equipped to deal with issues; confidentiality laws that exclude carers from being informed and able to better support those at risk; and the need for improved co-ordination and communication between service providers.
An increase in online support services, school programs targeting mental health and the willingness of a cross-section of the Border community to connect and co-operate were listed as positive steps already being taken in suicide prevention.
Ms Conway and Ms Koehler agreed the forum was worthwhile in continuing the discussion but words needed to be followed with action.
They were disappointed the voice of suicide survivors was not given a platform, believing lessons could be best learnt from the families and friends who had experienced first-hand where the holes in the system failed people.
“All the degrees in the world do not replace life experience,” Ms Conway said.
“There are a lot of thoughts, a lot of ideas, that need to be followed through.
“I hope the forum is the start of change, I hope it’s the start of everyone coming together, because suicide is everyone’s business.”
Ms Koehler said families could give a better understanding of the issue.
“For it to be effective, we’re the people who need to be spoken to,” she said.
“I think the forum was the start of gathering information but to do something effective, a whole lot more needs to be done.
“Going back to the start of today and seeing the billions of dollars that goes into mental health annually and the statistics not changing, I want to see something change.”
