Mallee Women’s Gathering 2004
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Top level
Community Health
Services
Community Development
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Author: Admin
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Publishing date: 09 November 2004 11:50pm
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A very successful Mallee Women’s Gathering was held on Tuesday 26 October 2004, when approximately 50 women came together in the Geranium Sports Club.
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Ms. Margaret Brown, from the Women’s Health Advisory Council welcomed everyone to the event. Joining Marg with interesting, challenging and entertaining presentations were:
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Yvonne Thompson – Community Nurse, Murray Mallee Community Health.
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Alison Walker- Youth Worker - Mallee Health Service Inc.
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Laura Jettner- Community Development Officer – Mallee Health Service Inc.
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Carla Vicary- Community Development Worker, Women’s Health Team, Murray Mallee Community Health.
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Jan Brand- Women’s Health Manager, Murray Mallee Community Health.
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Jennifer Townsend, Steering Committee Member of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, along with ‘technical assistant’ BJpresented “Planting the Seeds of Hope”.
Alarmingly, we were informed that:
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2454 people completed suicide in Australia in 2001
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Suicide is the leading external cause of death in Australia
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For every completed suicide there are over 30 attempts
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There are 8 times more deaths by suicide in Australia than by homicide
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More people die by suicide than on our roads
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Indigenous suicide rates are possibly two to three times that of non-indigenous Australians
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The rate of suicide increases in communities with populations of less than 4,000 (in Australia the suicide rates have found to be higher in rural areas than metropolitan areas)
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Over the period 1991 to 2001 males suicides outnumbered female suicides by approximately four to one
Such statistics may explain why there appears to be limited information available that is specific to females and suicide or self harm. Such a lack of information is concerning, particularly considering that it has been estimated that the rate of suicidal thoughts and possibly the number of attempted suicides is higher for females than males. Therefore, this should be explored further.
The initial funding for this suicide prevention was totally committed to education and targeted only to indigenous people, youths and males. Sadly, there was no funding specifically targeted for female suicide prevention.
Jennifer went on to give an extremely sound overview of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and their achievements in the Mallee area, which included the establishment of local community groups. Youth injected the energy into these focus groups but in some cases found it difficult to have this disseminate into the wider community. Unfortunately the Lameroo and Meningie groups no longer meet.
The Steering Committee are looking forward to having a regional conference in 2005, spanning 3 days and will involve sharing, training, feed back to local groups and answering questions such as “Where do we go from here?”
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Discussing views on women’s needs at the Mallee Women’s Gathering 2004
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At this point we were reminded that 25 November is World Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. Marg Brown explained her role in the Women’s Health Advisory Council and how the SA Women’s Health Policy idea was born. The main areas of the policy include Mental Health, Transport, Safe Housing, Young People Issues, Rural and Remote (Marg’s area) and Roles of Women. Both Marg and Molly Clare invited the group to make contributions to the policy.
Other noted information was that Commonwealth Funding for Women’s Health Workers has been approved for the next 5 years and that there is no policy for women at a national level and only recently at the state level.
Yvonne Thiel introduced us to “What is Aromatherapy” and how she became involved in studying this area, setting up her own business and why she continues to study. Yvonne discussed setting up a natural first aid kit using essential oils and herbs. She also demonstrated how to apply the oils and explained the individual use of essential oils.
Before the next guest, Laura Jettner thanked everyone for coming and spoke of the teamwork from the planning group to make this day a great success. She also thanked the funding bodies Murray Mallee Community Heath Team, Mallee Health Service Inc., Murray Mallee Community Education Network, Country Arts and the Geranium Bowlers for their catering prowess.
Guest and local identity, Jeanette Wormald’s “Horizons and Heartland” performance was well received. The women related to her songs and story of living in the Mallee. Using music and song to talk about our health and environment is a great tool and gave the day diversity and depth. Her show is a multi-media presentation with a mix of heritage photographs relating to the farming history in the Mallee with stunning images of the region’s landscapes flora and fauna.
The songs relate to everyday situations that happen in the Mallee and also of the diverse culture of living in rural communities. It was a thought provoking performance that caused reflection on what is happening in your own life. It is easy to understand where Jeanette has earned the name of “songbird”. Her voice is lovely to listen to; her passion for the Mallee, family and friends is refreshing to hear.
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Jeanette Wormald “Horizons and Heartland”
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