As a long-time carer, Mary Hollick knows how challenging navigating the mental health system in Victoria can be. The 70-year-old from Ballarat has, at various times, cared for her mother, her sister and her son, who all experienced mental health challenges for lengthy periods of their lives.
She says the new Grampians Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect centre is a vast improvement on the lack of support when she was supporting her mother, sister and son.
“This centre is like shining a big torch light on mental health and carers; it’s warm and welcoming. You don’t need a referral to come here and anyone at all caring for someone with a form of mental ill-health or illness can get support or guidance with resources,” Mary said.
The Connect centre is a support service for carers and family members of people with mental health and/or substance abuse issues. It is one of eight such centres across Victoria funded by the Victorian Government. They provide individual and group based support, tailored information, advocacy, counselling, and access to brokerage funds through Tandem’s Carer Support Fund.
Most importantly, the staff all have their own lived or living experience as carers, giving them a unique ability as professionals to understand and empathise with people who come to the centre for support.
“You can learn how to look after yourself, which is something carers don’t do well,” Mary said. “At the Connect centre there is a library, there’s a craft group, the kettle is always on and there are friendships you can form. The people there understand what you live with so this is just a wonderful innovation.”
Mary has been a member of the Grampians Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect community since it became operational in September 2023. She is also a carer representative for Grampian Health’s Interim Regional Body and the Tandem Consumer Register.
She says the much-needed support for carers that Victoria’s new Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect centres provide will, in turn, provide positive outcomes for the people they support.
“As a carer the person you support is always the centre of your focus; you are constantly doing your very best to support them and to enable them to flourish. Places like this [Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect centres] are the start of doing that,” Mary said.
“Carers represent the bridge to people continuing their life. Without carers, people with serious illness suicide earlier, they die earlier, they appear before the court or they are jailed, and that’s not good enough. People shouldn’t be punished because of an untreated illness, so looking after the carer means we can enable people with many gifts and skills to live their best life.”
Mary said the centre helps meet a desperate need across the Grampians region.
“There are more than 7,000 people in the Grampians region with severe and enduring mental illness, so they have families and supporters that are also affected. These centres, and the people in them, have a really important role to support our community.”
Grampians Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect is for people of all ages and backgrounds who are living in the Ararat, Ballarat, Golden Plains, Hepburn, Hindmarsh, Horsham, Moorabool, Northern Grampians, Pyrenees, West Wimmera, and Yarriambiack regions. Support is free and no referral is needed. Mind is proud to deliver the service in partnership with Ballarat Community Health and Grampians Community Health.
Mind also delivers the Loddon Mallee Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect, which has centres in Bendigo and Mildura.
To find out more about Grampians Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect call 1800 962 008 or email [email protected]
If this article raises concerns for you, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islanders can also call 13 YARN (13 92 76) a 24/7 national crisis support telephone service staffed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
If you would like more information, please contact us.
1300 286 463
[email protected]
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