By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
UNCERTAINTY surrounds the inevitable closure of the region’s brown coal industry, and equally discussions around the potential stress of workers rises.
Organisations were brought together recently to discuss the foundation of a mental health assembly for the energy sector, which centres in the Latrobe Valley.
The meeting, held at Traralgon Neighbourhood Learning House, was presented by Emilie Abou Abdallah, suicide prevention coordinator at Wesley LifeForce.
Established in 1995, Wesley LifeForce was founded on the idea of education and empowerment in taking action to tackle suicide, which comes in the form of community networking and suicide prevention training.
The network has already set up bodies in East Gippsland and soon in South Gippsland, while Ms Abou Abdallah was approached Marian Macdonald from StandBy Support After Suicide to thrust forward the concept of this specific group not limited by a certain area.
Ms Abou Abdallah coined this as an “identity group” in relation to the energy sector.
“We get approached by someone in the community or from another service provider to talk about the gap and certain needs,” she told the Express.
“I did my research, we visit other stakeholders, and I was able to locate the gap and see what’s missing and things that we didn’t know before.
“We’re able to locate the risk factors and protective factors and how much support the people in the energy industry, the individuals and their families, and how much they need support.”
Those within the industry are subject to demanding, high levels of responsibility, and often remote types of work, which the creeping up closures of the neighbouring power stations also inviting concerns of job security.
It was revealed that often this older, generally male demographic of worker are increasingly unaware of the services out there to support them if need be.
“It’s not only the closure or the transition. The energy industry in general needs support due to the shift work and FIFO … they have their own unique risk factors,” Ms Abou Abdallah said.
“This network would be supporting them and supporting the people in transition, because they have additional risk factors of becoming unemployed, not having an income … readjusting to the community, readjusting to a normal lifestyle.”
She also added that this strain can also lead to substance abuse and potential domestic violence, to accompany the possibility of suicide.
Those that attended the initial meeting included representatives from Latrobe Regional Health, Gippsland Primary Health Network, Lifeline Gippsland, Playgroup Victoria, StandBy Support after Suicide, and Neami National.
Anyone interested in joining at a committee level can get in touch with Emilie Abou Abdallah via: emilie.abouabdallah@wesleymission.org.au
