Walking into Loddon Mallee Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect service is like walking into a big family home where you feel welcome right away. Apart from the sign out front, it is a normal looking house on a Bendigo street.
Possibly no-one makes you feel more at ease than Jo Pallant, the Centre’s Service Manager.
“This service is like no other that I have worked in,” she says.
The service supports carers of people with mental health and/or substance abuse issues. It is funded by the Victorian Government and provides individual and group based support, tailored information, advocacy, counselling, and access to brokerage funds through Tandem’s Carer Support Fund. Mind delivers the service in partnership with Mallee Family Care – and another for the Grampians region.
“I was excited to see that one of the recommendations (of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System) was for a statewide service that was solely for carers, family, supporters and kin who support people with mental health and/or substance use challenges. This excitement in turn has been felt by the staff and also the carers that we support,” Jo said.
“Like myself, all the staff in Loddon Mallee (Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect) have carer lived or living experience of supporting someone with mental health and/or substance use challenges. We understand first-hand the journey that carers walk through, Jo said.
For Tanya, who has been using the service since it opened, it has made all the difference to be able to go somewhere where the staff already understand your situation.
“After my son was diagnosed (with autism), I was referred to one service after another but no-one could see me. I had to do it all alone for years. It means the world to me now to be able to come here whenever I want,” she said.
“I just have a cuppa and a chat. The staff are all carers like me so you don’t have to explain – they already know and understand. And if you need anything they can get you the support you need.”
Another person who is a regular at Loddon Mallee Connect is Wolf, 16. He and his Mum have been through some huge mental health challenges within their family and while they are in a better place now, it is something that still impacts their lives, he explained.
Wolf is one of a number of young people who were part of the co-design of the Loddon Mallee Connect service and who have created their own youth group there. They have their own headquarters in the basement of the centre, complete with a lava lamp.
“It’s a quiet escape from the rest of the world. And I can be with people who have the same experiences and feelings as me,” Wolf said.
“We come in, chat, cook dinner or get food in. There are eight or nine of us including me. We feel safe to express ourselves.”
Wolf’s Mum, Melissa, has seen the difference the Loddon Mallee Connect centre has made for Wolf.
“The youth group at Loddon Mallee Connect has been great for Wolf – knowing that he’s not alone, that he’s not the only one with experience of mental health challenges in the family. He always wanted somewhere where he could talk with other kids. And it’s his space, nothing to do with adults.”
“The fact that they were consulted in the co-design of the service and can see that their thoughts were listened to and have come to fruition is huge – it means they know it is really their place.”
Melissa also praised Allison, one of the younger members of the Loddon Mallee Connect’s peer worker team, who work with the young carers.
“Allison encourages them – and she talks the way they do. And she is very observant – if one of them is quiet, she picks up on it and will have a chat and find out what’s going on and if she can support them with something.”
Loddon Mallee Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect is for people of all ages and backgrounds who are living in the Buloke, Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Gannawarra, Greater Bendigo, Loddon, Macedon Ranges, Mildura, Mount Alexander and Swan Hill local government areas. Support is free and no referral is needed.
To find out more about Loddon Mallee Mental Health and Wellbeing Connect call 1800 979 730 or email [email protected]