ROdown Blog
Mental Health – It’s Everybody’s Business
It’s not my problem, because I don’t suffer from any mental illnesses... I don’t want to make my problems everyone else’s...I don’t want to talk about it because I don’t want my mates to look at me differently... Fact is mental health is everybody’s business.
Mental health is as much a part of our wellbeing as our physical health. To get a larger grasp on the mental health situation amongst young people in my community, I spoke to a member of the Darwin Indigenous Suicide Prevention Network (DRISPN). “[DRISPN] consists of a variety of community members and service providers who are passionate about reducing the incidents of suicide within the Indigenous population in the Darwin region.
DRISPN was formed by community members following the rally highlighting the high numbers of youth suicide that occurred in Darwin in the last half of 2010.” “Through my community engagement I have found that people are willing to talk openly about mental health issues in order to seek assistance or to help sufferers.
I see this as a positive step to promote the importance of good mental health and the fact that no one is immune,” the member says. “At DRISPN we are investigating ways of reducing the incidences of suicide amongst Indigenous people within the Darwin region.
We are provided with a ‘safe space’ to talk openly and freely about our own experiences and work as a team to create avenues to support our community members. ” The effects of mental illness and suicide can also be felt in smaller communities around the country.
A 16 year old from Gove spoke to me about a recent experience in her community when a young man committed suicide, “We had never experienced anything like that before and we didn’t have any signs on how to deal with it. The lack of knowledge on the subject made it worse. Gove is 4000 people and we all knew him some how.”
Asked whether there is enough conversation about mental health in her community, she replied, “Definitely not. Not at all really,“ and as a possible solution – which she herself is pushing for – “what we call “safe talks” to get more information out there, so signs to look out for and people to talk to, the facilities to go to for people in that situation or know somebody in that situation and who to talk to.”
From my conversations and involvement in Reach Out and other community organisations I have learnt one big lesson – MENTAL HEALTH EFFECTS US ALL.
From urban areas, to rural or remote, any skin colour, language or sexual preference, it’s time that we started talking freely and creating an environment where people understand, encourage and are equipped with the knowledge to help each other.
The time to end mental health stigma is NOW.
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