From left to right: 101.3FM presenters Gerard Broerson, Kerry Redfern and Diet Simon. Photo with thanks to Brigitte Simon-Enderl
101.3FM were at the Yandina Street Festival on 15 August, talking with locals on the valuable community service and help they provide to other locals on the Sunshine Coast. They found a common theme…
Here is a report from Diet Simon, interspersed with clips of the actual interviews which you can listen to throughout.
Helping men the main theme at Yandina fest
“We lose five men per day to suicide in Australia. One man dies prematurely every five hours because they don’t seek medical treatment. They tend to bottle it up and think ‘I’m tough, I’ll get through this somehow.’”
Two appalling statistics we were told in an outside broadcast on Saturday 15 August from the Yandina Community Centre.
The shock numbers came from Adam Cashmore-Brooke, who organised what was billed as Super Saturday and who is a main driving force behind Dads-in-Distress here on our coast.
“It’s gone fairly quiet,” Adam told us and they haven’t had a lot of calls. The group offers men counselling by experts and peers – “guys who’ve been through the mill themselves – they really know the territory well”. The group aims to uphold men when they’re going through trauma and stress. Self-help meetings used to take place but have stopped for lack of attendance.
“If I could get a message to men listening: guys, please turn up. There is plenty of help available, but you’ve got to make the difference. Turn up, help yourself, show up, be willing to change.” Adam is available 24/7 on 0411 709 184.
Rick Hansen talked to us about suicide prevention efforts he and Adam make. They teach a programme thousands of years old from Mexico which uses four rules:
1. Be impeccable with your words
2. Don’t take anything personally
3. Don’t make assumptions
4. Always do your best.
“The one the man hates the most is the one we start working with,” Rick said. It’s a programme aimed at 16 to 60 year-olds. Both Rick and Adam are certified suicide prevention officers. “We’ve helped a lot of men with this stuff, it works.”
One of the main stresses that drive men to the edge is not being able to see their children. Rick emphasised that they make a big point of making men feel “safe”, of not betraying their confidence. Rick is also available 24/7 on 0402 426 781.
Steve Molloy does court support for Dads in Distress and is most interested “in the kids being traumatised, ignored, defied, totally left out” in court battles over custody.
“I’ve had kids in my care and protection that have actually murdered their parents, that have burnt houses down – it’s just indescribable where they’ve come from, with the stresses that have been placed upon them,” he told us.
“Kids have been up for some horrendous charges and it’s more than blatantly obvious that it’s come through these sorts of things, without a father role or in some cases even a mother role, proper parental roles.” Steve Molloy is available 24/7 on 5493 7152.
Angus Waddell runs a computerised men’s advice site where men can talk about their stuff and share some humour. Angus gave us these statistics:
“Men who have a shed live seven years longer – a beautiful statistic and it’s real. Men who drink with their male friends regularly are happier than those men that have highly paid jobs.” The site is www.secretmensbusiness.tv.
Nicky Goodwin, Nambour-based nursing director with Queensland Health, runs a multi-disciplinary programme aimed at enabling aged people to stay in their own homes as long as possible.
Leone Smith, formerly in charge of indigenous mental health working out of Nambour, is in a new role to help chronically ill people better manage their diseases by helping them interact better with their GPs. Ring 5450 4750 and ask for the Care Coordination Team.
The Rev. Kerry Talbot, who runs a spiritual church in Landsborough, offered the Japanese energy healing Reiki.
He told Kris Waldron and Kerry Redfern that if you’re open to it, Reiki will help you. Kris had had a session with him before their talk and felt two feet taller, she said.
Councillor Paul Tatton, responsible for about 25,000 people in Nambour, Yandina, Eumundi, Kennilworth and Mapleton, said the merger of Sunshine Coast councils will be good for everyone in the long term.
He especially mentioned a Communities Creating Vision program in Yandina that will see street scaping, walking paths and other infrastructure built.
If you’d like to know about support services available specifically to Aboriginal people, take a look at the Booin Gari – Come This Way celebrations.
The four presenters and interviewers on the Yandina assignment were Gerard Broersen, Kerry Redfern, Kris Waldron and myself, Diet Simon, together with the wizard who makes us sound like magic – as usual – Harry Miller.
If you are a community organisation, don’t let your event go unnoticed for lack of media coverage. Email the details to us at community@noosacommunityradio.org so we can tell people about it on air, well ahead of time.
101.3FM Celebrates The Yandina Street Festival // Oct 4, 2009 at 3:57 pm
[...] ← Helping Men the Main Theme at Yandina Fest Noosa Jazz Festival 2009 [...]