topic HOPE is a new strategy in Welcome and orientation

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 00:30:02 GMT

G'day, Chris here,

I just joined the forum yesterday. I'm a 30 year old bloke who fishes, shoots, drinks and swears and have a pretty solid understanding of how life can crumble around us, often due to something well outside of our control. Difficult situations can lead us down dark roads and cloud our thoughts like a swarm of wasps stinging us from the inside out, then that cloud can seem to hang there like a never-ending storm inside us.

I grew up in country Victoria, the heart of the Goulburn Valley. I love the country life and although I have travelled and worked all over the place from Cairns to Darwin, Groote Eylandt to Marysville and loads of places in-between... I still rate our Goulburn Valley as the best place I've ever lived in.

I now work at in a HOPE department (Hospital Outreach Post-suicide Engagement). I'm a lived experience employee with extensive experience in construction, agriculture, retail and ran my own business that went broke due to COVID-19. So I'm no psychologist, I'm definitely not a doctor (but I'll have a look at it for ya) and I really don't have the clinical expertise that a nurse has. What I DO HAVE is a very unique set of people skills. I can pull ticks, re-wire your house and strip/fit and patch a 30.5/32 Wagon tyre in under half an hour and have good yarn about the local fishing holes while I'm doing it.

There's been incredible bumps in my journey, both marvellous and miserable. In Feb 2012 My grandfather had an accident where he damaged his spinal cord. Weeks after his surgery when he had woken and stabilised we had to have the toughest chat of my life. He couldn't breathe without the help of the machines, and he could only move one arm a little bit. So before the Doctor filled him with Morphine and Propofol, we had to look him in the eye and say goodbye. Time is still healing that wound but the old bloke wouldn't have had it any other way. I've been a heavy drug user, I've lived in flash high rise apartments, farm houses, pubs and meth-dens.

Now I am just here to help. I look forward to this journey and I want to do it together. Cheers fellas.

HOPE is a new strategy

Aaronsis — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 00:49:01 GMT

WOW..what a post and thank you, thank you for sharing that with us here and for being here as part of this amazing and wonderful community.

You sure sound like you have developed some resilience in your many hurdles in life and that you have been able to grow and to have your eyes also opened by lived experience..me too...and this is true also for many of us here.

Thank you for sharing, for being apart of the forum and I look forward to seeing you around on as many threads as you feel you would like to chat on. It is so awesome when others reach out to extend support and care to a complete stranger, it is what makes my heart sing.

Thank you hopeisastrategy

See you around

Sarah xx

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 04:59:45 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I hope to be of some help or maybe someone can offer me some advice here too. I'm learning lots, I hope you have a happy easter break and check-in with family and friends.

HOPE is a new strategy

Aaronsis — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 05:06:24 GMT

Hey hopisastrategy

Thank you for your kind words and we are absolutely here for everyone. Some times you feel like you can chat to others and offer a helping hand and sometimes you need to reach out and have others sit with you and provide you with some comfort and support, that is the gold in this place.

Happy to chat to you some more if there is something you would like to share here, something that you would like to get off your chest and maybe throw around some ideas about, I am here to listen and sit with you also.

I hope that you have a great weekend and that something wonderful puts a smile on your face.

Hugs to you

Sarah

HOPE is a new strategy

Guest_4643 — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 05:46:29 GMT

Hi hopeisastrategy, welcome.

Just a reminder to be careful about sharing your location and workplace. I'm from Goulburn Valley myself and I know it's a large area and you didn't mention your suburb, just reminding you in a friendly way. I don't like it here much, the "healthcare" is a joke. Where can I find info on the HOPE thing though please? I haven't heard of that.

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandpa also.

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 22:50:33 GMT

Hi mb20lover,

Mate I can completely understand your frustration with the system. It's a daily struggle in too many of our healthcare services. Not just in the GV. We need to see a culture shift, and I believe that it will begin to happen this year with the catalyst being the findings from the RC into mental health.

I will take on what you have said, you make a few good points, particularly about not EVERYBODY being a fan of it here.

I think in regard to sharing employment details, it's important to think before you speak. In this instance I'm just telling you my job role. I'm so glad you've asked, because that's what we as a community need to do. Otherwise we risk remainkng in crysis mode rather than prevention mode and that culture shift will take longer and longer to seep in.

Im out of the office for a fortnight so Do a bit of googling on the HOPE program mate. If you don't have much luck I'll get some more info to you when im at my PC

HOPE is a new strategy

Guest_4643 — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 03:01:58 GMT

Hi Chris.

I didn't mean it in a bad way, I was just letting you know since you're new here, sorry.

Yeah I've never been so depressed before in my life than I have here. Can't do anything - jobs, studying, training, meeting people, nothing. Went to Headspace and had my mental illnesses made fun of by the manager, Psychologist and group members.

I've also been told to k**l myself and methods on how to do so and that I'm faking it when I scored a 50 on a K-10 test, the highest score possible, when I was being completely honest.

The only good thing is my GP, everything else is awful. My Mum has had very bad experiences with her physical health and has scars to prove it from surgeries. I also had not the best experience with my first surgery which was major in 2018.

This place is a joke, nobody cares, no one wants to do anything to help. I'm still waiting on the Continence people to contact me regarding my bladder when my GP told me and made a referral to them 3 weeks ago.

Triage won't help and I've heard nothing but horrible stories about that place. Had nothing but bad experiences.

HOPE is a new strategy

quirkywords — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 10:59:34 GMT

hope is a strategy,

i like the encouraging tone and willingness to share your lived experience with others.

welcome to the forum and I look forward to having a chat if you like.

HOPE is a new strategy

Guest_1643 — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 11:09:20 GMT

welcome hope is a strateegy

are u a peer worker?

such important work, i am so grateful it is becoming more commonplace to employ peer workers accross hospital settings.
i considered doing that work but i can't just yet - still too early in my recovery. i wish u success in ur amazing work. i agreee the Mh system leaves a lot to be desired but hoping to see real change.

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 23:39:30 GMT

Thanks for the kind (quirky)words. I'm enjoying reading the forum posts and meeting a few people here. Likewise!

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 00:43:34 GMT

Hey Sleepy21!

My title at work is "psychosocial support worker". My day to day ops includes assisting consumers with transport, essential living requirements and just generally being there for a chat. It is a peer work role but I don't deal directly with those who are suffering acutely with conditions such as Personality disorders, Schizophrenia or heavy substance dependence. We are an outreach program specific to suicide, suicidal thoughts or ideation and the related grief and loss for the individual/s involved. We don't just help with social support, we work in tandem with clinicians, GP's, Psychologists, physiotherapists, cardio specialists optometrists....whatever that person needs. Anything. It could mean we cast a few lures in the channel while we yarn about life, or go to pickup some tomatoes from the farm gate to make relish. Or, it could mean speaking with a heavy heart to a family who has just suffered a loss they could never have imagined happening.

If you have that dream, follow it, you will know when you are ready. I first started looking into social work and peer work about 6 years ago. At that stage of my life, I too was a long way from being ready. I kept looking on and off until last year when I saw this job advertised and in an instant, before I had even read the application form, I knew my time had come. I had no experience whatsoever, no backing from anybody, no supporting qualifications and no indication of previous attempts at study in the field AND I have got scoliosis and a degenerative disorder that causes significant back pain. But I was 100% honest at the interview panel and it was honesty that got me the job. You can do it too if you really want to.

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 00:48:24 GMT

Hey mate, how are you?

Did you end up doing any research on the program?

Referral pathways are slim and specific but are growing slowly. We just want to remain specific and effective and not repeat past mistakes.

HOPE is a new strategy

Guest_4643 — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 02:04:58 GMT

Please read what I wrote above. Never been so depressed in my life living around here.

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 04:09:32 GMT

I did see that mate, you mentioned its pretty ordinary and you are really battling. If it is GV health you are referring to please attempt to reach out again at some stage. At this moment, we are seeing a genuine movement amongst health professionals and human services to listen actively and take a more holistic approach to each individual case. There is also an abundance of new staff with a mix of professional and lived experience, so perhaps there is somebody for you to connect with that was not there before? I do hear your resentment though, you and your family have been let down by the system that is meant to help. If you can muster the courage to call triage again, I urge you to do so with an open mind and see if you can get some assistance. There is also a couple of local services that do incredible things for the community, the girls at Shepparton family & financial services are absolutely incredible and will be able to help you in more ways than you can imagine...but only if you choose to engage.

HOPE is a new strategy

Guest_1643 — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 04:18:05 GMT

hi hope is a strategy

thanks so much for the awesome explanation

do u guys treat suicdality seperately, rather than a symptom of say depression, as it's own situation? i can well-appreciate that program and ur important role in it.

talking about suicide is so important and giving ppl that space

my work with peer workers has definitely enriched my life and alleviated some of my pain. i like ur name as well "hopeisastrategy"

hope is everything. (that should be my username!) thanks again chris.

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 05:09:09 GMT

Thanks Sleepy!

The name came from my corporate and retail background where I was pushing and pushing people for better and better figures with no regard for how they are travelling physically and mentally. When they moaned and groaned and told me they were exhausted I would tell them that hope is not a strategy and to keep working or hope to still have a job on Monday. Life is no longer about numbers and I've since found out that HOPE is indeed a strategy. Sometimes the only one.

HOPE is a new strategy

hopeisastrategy — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 05:18:26 GMT

and to answer your question, yes, suicidality is being treated as a completely separate issue instead of a symptom. Think single mums and dads with bills and a mortgage and nobody to help. or perhaps the farmer whos about to go bankrupt and loose the family farm.... or perhaps its a grandparent who had a tragic accident and somebody died in their care. These people have been presenting to Emergency or Triage with no symptoms and no previous history of psych related illness, so they are not treated as a priority and they're discharged on the spot, no further action required. Then they're sent packing with a follow up phone call if they're lucky, usually at a time of serious vulnerability. The HOPE program aims to catch those people who slip through the cracks and provide a service that is about 20 years too late.

HOPE is a new strategy

Guest_4643 — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 06:42:27 GMT

Triage refuse to help me. No one around here wants to help my parents or me, with mental or physical health. I have physical health issues as of recently and no one wants to fix that either. I don't need anything for financial matters.

HOPE is a new strategy

Guest_1643 — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 07:07:54 GMT

hi hopeisastrategy

that happened to me years ago - discharged with nothing to follow up. I have heard that ppl are very vulnerable after being suicidal etc and that's when they need help

we need to swoop in and give it to them

thanks for answering my question

i am one of those ppl myself. I've been suicidal etc and got help from the hospital but i've also been discharged rudely with NO follow up so i know both ends. 20 years too late for sure.

HOPE is a new strategy

amberlite — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 06:44:34 GMT

Hay what is the image on hope's page?