Annual Report 2012 - Lifeline Darling Downs

60
Lifeline Darling Downs & South West Queensland Ltd 2012 Annual Report
St George Indigenous Family Safety Project
by Alan Dean, Manager Federal Funding & Other Programs
This was a mental health forum for providers in the St George region.
The Team
We have had two people coordinate this program, Adam Osborne and Tanya Miller. We
hired two contractors to deliver the forum, former Lifeline managers Ros Daracott and
Steven Mayers from Toowoomba.
Achievements
On the 30th and 31st May, 2012 an ASIST Workshop, part of the Living Works Program
for Suicide Prevention was held at the Balonne Skills Centre, 2 Victoria Street, St.
George as part of the Mental Health Forum.
Presenters Ros Daracott and Steven Mayers from Toowoomba conducted the 2 day
workshop to 15 participants from a wide range of community organizations such as
Gateway to Training; Care Balonne, Maranoa Health, Building Bridges; St George State
High School and Charleville Hospital as well as local Lifeline staff.
The ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is an interactive workshop that
prepares caregivers to provide suicide first aid intervention.
On the 1st June an ASIST Tuneup was offered to participants as a 3 hour refresher for
those who have already completed the two-day ASIST workshop. A SafeTALK
workshop ran parallel to the Tuneup workshop which is 3 hours of training in suicide
alertness where participants will be better able to connect a person with thoughts of
suicide to a suicide first aid intervention caregiver. 5 participants including local Lifeline
staff and staff from the Education Department St George attended.
Challenges
The St George area has had a lot of attention from visiting health and allied workers and
our original concept was modified after consultation with the community to cover suicide
prevention as there were residual and emerging issues in this area.
Future directions
Federal government has released some more funding for the next two years and after
consultation with the community a new work plan is being devised.
55