Lifeline needed from State

Funding for a critically important suicide postvention officer based in Bunbury will run out at the end of the year without State Government intervention. The position is administered through St John of God’s South West Community Alcohol and Drug Service and funded by Bunbury-based AccordWest. The Times understands the officer is part of an outreach service involved when families are affected by suicide, but AccordWest chief executive Evan Nunn said the not-for-profit organisation funded the position as a feasibility trial. “I don’t think there was ever a belief that we would continue to fund it,” Mr Nunn said. “If the Government is looking for partners who would do their work ... they would step in and provide the funds.” AccordWest started “around a kitchen table” more than 30 years ago to help families and people in need. “We’ve done this out of our community funds,” Mr Nunn said. The postvention role would be subject to review providing a report, but with no guarantee it would continue the role. Mr Nunn said more funding was needed just to handle psychiatric workloads in Bunbury, and services did not always reach residents in outlying parts of the South West. “It’s a big area of concern we’ve expressed for the region,” he said. A State Government spokesperson did not respond to queries about the postvention role beyond December and a big funding announcement for regional mental health this week that offered little for the South West. Concerns also exist around the effectiveness of the Bunbury-based role, with a gap between police attendance at a suicide and formal notification of cause of death creating painful delays for families left in limbo without any intervention support. Margaret River woman Lauren Healy, whose husband took his own life last month, and others in the Capes mental health industry, claimed regional families were “second-class citizens” compared with metropolitan residents. “The community would benefit from an outreach or victim support group that could come to offer support following a crisis,” Ms Healy said. A St John of God spokesperson said the social outreach program supported “service providers and agencies in the South West region that deliver suicide prevention and postvention services”. Those providers were not identified. “A dedicated postvention role was established as a pilot program in the region to support service providers and community groups,” the spokesperson said. “A review will be undertaken over the next few months about whether to continue the pilot program. This role is in addition to the suicide prevention co-ordination program we operate in the region, which is funded by the Mental Health Commission.” That service “does not provide support directly to clients and their families”. Lifeline 13 11 14 Beyond Blue 1300 224 636