Helping to remove the stigma behind mental health one conversation at a time, is the newly opened Lighthouse Crisis Support Space in Bundaberg.
The vital crisis care service is available at the Bundaberg Hospital for those experiencing mental health distress, fast-tracking consumers out of the emergency department and into specialised care.
Brian O’Neill is one of the peer workers employed on-site at the facility who brings his own lived experience of mental health to the role.
“Peer workers use what's happened to us in the past to role model recovery and what that looks like for people,” Brian said.
“So for me, if I'm talking to someone around suicidal subjects, it's something that I'm familiar with and I can have a deeper conversation and the people feel a little bit more relaxed being able to talk to someone else.
“Because often when they walk in, they'll say to us and to the clinicians, ‘well how can you know how I'm feeling?’ I can actually say yes, I know how they're feeling and so they find it easier to talk to somebody who has that experience and has been there, just like they have.”
When a consumer presents to the emergency department who may be exhibiting signs of mental health distress, a triage nurse and clinician are used to ascertain whether the person is capable and can be recommended to the service and will then be introduced to the peer worker.
“Sitting over in the emergency department can be quite distressing for someone going through mental health,” Brian said.
“Instead of having them sit there (in emergency), we can bring them across here and sit here with a peer worker and have a bit of conversation, talk about what they can do to get themselves out of stress, how to make a road forward.
“(We can) find a path to recovery and get themselves back in the community, develop some independence and we can also refer them onto other services.”
Brian said the stigma of mental health can be higher in regional and rural communities as people feel more isolated and may not have ready access to engage in helpful services that metropolitan areas have.
“The stigma of mental health also tends to be higher here because everybody knows everybody, so we're trying to encourage people to overcome that stigma and be able to access the service,” he said.
“We're working on that and I mean that is something that is societal, so if we can work on getting people in here and they have less stigma and they're able to talk about it more, then hopefully the people out in the community will be able to talk about it more too.”
Modelled off the successful Oasis Crisis Support Space in Hervey Bay, the Lighthouse has already seen a range of ages and backgrounds present to the service.
“Younger people are having different experiences to what they used to; after COVID we're seeing a lot more people and the accommodation crisis is really bringing people in here because people are out of home often living in small motel rooms because there's no accommodation and they've got no choice but to come here and talk to us.”
In her part time role as Clinical Senior at the Lighthouse, Joanne Eussen supports the peer workers from a clinical perspective.
“I accept the calls from the emergency department and go across with a peer worker to assess the suitability of anyone who's referred to the service,” Joanne said.
“The emergency department can be very triggering at times; it's loud, it's always busy, there's not always somewhere special to sit.
“So we find that this environment (at the Lighthouse) is much more welcoming, it's more calm and it can go a long way to helping people feel safe and supported more so than our busy emergency department.
“Everyone's got a story and it's a privilege to sit with someone when they're at their worst time and listen.”
Jan Baldock brought her own lived experience of mental health in her involvement with the Steering Committee to consider the design choices of the facility’s furniture and outside artwork in her role as a Consumer Representative Advisor with Wide Bay Mental Health Hospital Specialised Services.
“In 2018, when I was going through on my journey, there wasn't anything like this available, so it was hard for me to know where to turn, where to get the help that I needed,” Jan said.
“So it's a continual journey, (but) knowing that we have this facility here if I do go backwards, then I know I can come here and just have a chat with the wonderful peer workers here.
“We do need to work very hard on shattering the stigma that comes with consumers having unwellness when it comes to their mental side of things; I know it took me a very long time to actually be able to tell my story.
“It's wholly important that we have the means to start the conversation, to work on shattering the stigma and to make people realize that mental unwellness is far more prevalent than most people actually imagine, and if we can have that start a conversation, people realise it's okay to talk about it.”
The Lighthouse is funded under the Queensland Government’s $1.6 billion Better Care Together mental health plan, ensuring people who need mental health support can access the right care in the right place at the right time.