HOPE is a new strategy

[hopeisastrategy]

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.

[hopeisastrategy]

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.

[hopeisastrategy]

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.

[Guest_4643]

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

[hopeisastrategy]

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.

[Guest_1643]

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.

[hopeisastrategy]

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.

[hopeisastrategy]

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.

[Guest_4643]

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.

[Guest_1643]

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.

[amberlite]

Hay what is the image on hope's page?