01
May
2018
For the first time, a We-Yarn Suicide Awareness & Prevention Workshop was held on Bundjalung country recently in Northern NSW, at Minyon Falls. The outdoor setting was suggested by Rekindling the Spirit, the Lismore-based Aboriginal community organisation working with The Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health (CRRMH) to organise We-Yarn workshops on the North Coast.
Four We-Yarn workshops have been held so far on country in Northern NSW. During May and June further workshops will be held at Jubullum, Lismore, Ballina, Grafton and Casino.
Those who took part in the Minyon Falls workshop report that the event was a valuable and memorable experience with the relaxed outdoors setting promoting a feeling of belonging and openness. Such feelings are essential to the success of We-Yarn workshops where people share very personal experiences and need to feel nurtured and safe.
North Coast Primary Health Network (NCPHN) has contracted CRRMH to run a series of workshops within Aboriginal communities across the North Coast. We-Yarn is one of several programs adopted on the North Coast to address high suicide rates in our Aboriginal communities.
NCPHN funds health services and programs that are specifically designed to address local gaps identified through our regular needs assessments.
We-Yarn is led by two facilitators – former NRL player Nathan Blacklock, and Fiona Livingstone, Suicide Prevention Program Manager for CRRMH.
We-Yarn workshops are designed in partnership with Aboriginal health workers and community members. They are based on the idea that people who are thinking about suicide usually do give signs that they are in a bad space. Those around them can learn to recognise these signs and to offer the help and support needed.
Sadly, the rate of suicide among Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people is much higher than for non-Indigenous Australians. There’s an urgent need to address this issue in rural communities where the majority of suicides take place.
We-Yarn aims to inspire communities to become healthier on all levels, including social and emotional wellbeing. Participants have also reported that the workshop has helped them to deal with their own experience of suicide (either themselves or family and friends).
Recent participants said that the three main things they got out of the We-Yarn workshop were:
We-Yarn co-facilitator Nathan Blacklock said he’d observed that it was easier for participants to relate to what’s happened in their life and their wellbeing when they are on country.
“It was good to be sitting in a circle. Usually Fiona and I are sitting out in front. In a circle everyone’s connecting with each other and people can see each other and nod in response to what someone’s saying.
“That’s where the healing can take place. For something personal to you, something that needs healing, it’s best to be in a circle outdoors. Mother Earth looks after us.”
Co-facilitator Fiona Livingstone has also noticed a greater connection in the on country workshops.
“It’s relaxing to be outdoors and when you are talking about something as sensitive as suicide prevention people need to feel safe about opening up. Being outdoors is better than the classroom style where people are more likely to close down. At the first on country workshop we held I noticed that we hugged each other when we were saying goodbye, because of the level of connection we felt with each other. And that didn’t happen in the classroom style workshops. And it was because we were on country.”
NCPHN’s Mental Health Reform Senior Project Officer Jack de Thierry’s Maori heritage means he has a particular affinity with Aboriginal people, and he recently took part in a We-Yarn Suicide Prevention Training workshop to better understand what is being done to address the issue of suicide in our Aboriginal communities.
“I took a lot away from that workshop. Being on country really helped people connect and open up. It was a privilege to hear people’s stories and how their experiences had affected their lives,” he said.
Rekindling the Spirit’s Comorbidity Coordinator Sharmaine Keogh attended the recent workshop and highly recommends We-Yarn to others in the Aboriginal community.
“I liked how the program was delivered, it was important to deliver the program with sensitivity considering the nature of the topic and I felt that this was done well. I enjoyed hearing the sad but rich stories from the participants … it brought the subject home.
“I felt that it was great to have the program held outdoors, it gives a sense of freedom and connection, I feel all group programs benefit enormously when held outdoors. The facilitator knew her subject matter and sharing her own experience humanised the topic and I feel it gave permission for other participants to disclose if they wished. I would surely recommend the workshop to other people.”
Practice Manager of Jullums Aboriginal Medical Service in Lismore, Vickie Williams, thought the We-Yarn workshop was outstanding.
“You sit in a circle around a fire and you talk and talk and before you realise it you have shared some very private thing that you always kept very close to your chest.
“We covered many topics but the most important was learning how to identify the signs that indicate someone is at risk of suicide.”
To find out more about upcoming workshops or to organise a workshop for your organisation, contact Fiona Livingstone on 02 6721 0074 or email: Fiona.livingstone@newcastle.edu.au
For anyone struggling with mental health issues, help is available by phoning:
Healthy Towns Comes to South West Rocks
Launch of 2018 Winter Strategy
Strategic Priority Area: One team
North Coast is identified as the region most likely to be impacted by climate change in Australia and also forecasted greatest growth in those 65+.
Healthy North Coast takes a lead role in ensuring the older population and the sector that supports them are prepared for, can respond to and recover from disasters and other emergencies.
We have led eight regional disaster management capacity building workshops, bringing together SES, community organisations and the aged care sector.
We have also developed disaster preparedness tip sheets for both residential and community aged care providers.
Strategic Priority Area: One team
In May 2022, the NSW Parliament passed the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2022. Effective from Tuesday, 28 November 2023, eligible people have the choice to access voluntary assisted dying.
Healthy North Coast has developed a webpage for both health professionals and consumers, with links to available information and resources.
Strategic Priority Area: No one is left behind
Healthy North Coast has worked with people living with dementia, their families and local service providers to develop an information booklet that will help them connect with local and national supports along their journey.
Highly regarded by a range of professional supporting those on or starting the dementia journey, the booklet includes commonly asked questions for people to ask their GP and/or specialist.
“It’s a fantastic resource and I give it to everyone on their first diagnosis. Its easy to read, so well planned and thought through and has lots of really useful information, tailored to the region.
I also find it very helpful when educating clinical staff.”
−Geropsychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Mid North Coast.
The resource is available in digital and printed copies, with more than 5,000 distributed across the region. An e-version is available to clinicians via the Dementia and Cognitive Impairment HealthPathway.
Strategic Priority Area: One team
Empowering aged care teams to deliver safer, more consistent care.
The Deteriorating Resident Triage Tool (DRRT) supports aged care staff to confidently recognise and respond to signs of resident deterioration. It enables timely, evidence-based decisions, strengthens communication with health services, and promotes early intervention and effective care planning, helping residents receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place. By doing so, it reduces unnecessary Emergency Department presentations and improves resident outcomes.
Developed in collaboration with a specialist geriatrician and informed by input from Residential Aged Care Managers, NSW Ambulance, GPs, and clinical experts across the Mid and North Coast Local Health Districts, the DRRT is practical, relevant, and aligned with contemporary best practice.
Aligned with the Strengthened Quality Standards:
Strategic Priority Area: No one is left behind
Care finders is a free service to assist older adults connect to aged care services and supports. Care finders support older people who experience significant barriers to accessing services, and walk alongside their clients at their own pace, to understand their individual situation and support them to work through the steps to address their needs. Care finders assist people with access to other supports in the community. They can provide connections both with accessing services for the first time, and with changing or finding new services and supports if their needs change.
Care finders can:
The care finder program has been extended to June 2029 and is provided by the following organisations. Each (Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Clarence Valley, Richmond Valley, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Kempsey, Nambucca and Bellingen) and Footprints (Kyogle, Tweed, Byron and Ballina).
Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now
Healthy North Coast commissions two service providers to deliver psychological therapies and supports for older people with, or at risk of developing, a mental illness and who are living in residential aged care homes (RACHs).
The aim of the program is to both provide direct support to residents and their families and carers, as well as upskill the RACH workforce to respond to the needs of residents presenting with mental health concerns.
Strategic Priority Area: Securing a Healthier Future
Connection and a sense of belonging are protective factors for both individual and community health and wellbeing. Evidence highlights that the social determinants of health play a critical role in addressing many of our regions health challenges.
That’s why Healthy North Coast has long been committed to supporting communities to strengthen and to build social health. Our initiatives, including contemporary ‘Social Prescribing’, help people to connect to activities, supports and each other, and assist communities to integrate services and bridge gaps.
Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety identified several critical areas affecting aged care residents and our health system. Key challenges include:
Telehealth offers valuable opportunities to enhance support for residents living in aged care homes. Funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, this initiative provides telehealth equipment and staff training as part of the response to the Royal Commission’s findings.
By improving access to primary care clinicians, specialist services, and other service providers through telehealth, we can significantly enhance health outcomes for residents, reducing unnecessary hospital transfers and emergency department visits.
The selection of telehealth equipment was guided by our Healthy Ageing Strategy (HAS), a comprehensive digital discovery questionnaire, and consultation workshops with various stakeholders. These efforts included interviews with residents to understand their attitudes toward telehealth, ensuring the initiative meets their needs and preferences.
Strategic Priority Area: Improving Lives Now
Aims to provide people who have life limiting conditions the opportunity to exercise choice and receive high quality care at home, harnessing improved and better coordinated supports and services that meet their individual needs.
Program objectives:
These objectives will contribute to achieving the following intended overarching outcomes of:
Funding is open to all primary care providers within disaster affected communities across the Healthy North Coast footprint.
Workforce Locum support and R&R funding criteria
Wellbeing Flexible Funding Criteria & Eligibility
| *Team Size (Total staff and contractors) | Funding Available |
| Small (1-5) | $500-$1500 |
| Medium (6-20) | $1500-$4000 |
| Large (>20) | $4000-$5000 |
