Grow your own mental health support
A “grow your own” mental health strategy being explored by Manna Institute could help rural and regional communities meet pressing workforce shortfalls – and a growing number of vulnerable people.
Project leader, UNE’s Associate Professor Sarah Wayland, says the project embraces the lived mental health experience of locals who now want to help others.
In partnership with Lifeline Direct and the Lifeline Research Office, the team is looking to develop pathways for such people to gain mental health peer work qualifications, which could boost workforce capacity where it’s needed most.
Associate Professor Wayland said mental health peer workers have long been vital to the mental health workforce. They deliver crisis and ongoing assistance – advocating for service users, facilitating support groups, and maintaining crucial connections within hospitals and communities – which is all critical to recovery prospects.
“One of the biggest challenges is getting mental health workers to reside and work in rural and regional Australia, and to ensure they possess local knowledge about the specific social, economic or environmental impacts within communities,” Associate Professor Wayland said.
“This Manna Institute partnership will develop leadership opportunities for peer workers that combine their unique skillsets and resource materials for those seeking a peer work pathway. In addition, it will identify ways to support and retain regional university students, to further bolster the future regional workforce.
“In regional and rural Australian communities, we need to do more than simply apply what works in the city. Our institute is prioritising lived experience inclusion and the generation of research by the regional peer workforce for the regional peer workforce. Because this workforce needs to grow to meet demand, and who better understands mental illness than someone who has experienced it themselves?”
Manna Institute is pioneering new ways for researchers, service providers and communities to collaborate to tailor projects to meet local mental health need. Associate Professor Wayland hopes this project will directly benefit service providers like Lifeline, but also mental health organisations and charities working in regional community and allied health.
“This initiative could help meet staffing shortfalls and ensure that people in regional communities with complex mental health are supported by people who understand the communities they live in,” she said.
Lifeline Direct CEO Robert Sams said hearing and learning from the many different lived and living experiences is a critical part of Lifeline’s service design and delivery. “If we are to reach our goal of having an impact for those who seek our help, we are wise to listen to their voices and experiences to better understand their needs,” he said.