*This story contains details which some readers may find distressing.
Often, a person is at their most vulnerable when experiencing any kind of mental health condition or problem, and the thought of having to travel far from home can escalate things or cause further distress.
With The Leader’s campaign for a new Barossa Regional Hospital now well and truly in full swing, we reached out to Seeds of Hope suicide prevention network to discuss what benefits a new hospital might bring for those facing mental health issues or mental illness in the region.
Seeds of Hope’s Victoria Seacombe, Susan Raven, Linda Ladlams and Jan Hoffman all shared their thoughts with The Leader on how a new Barossa Regional Hospital would be beneficial for those who are dealing with mental health conditions.
Chairperson, Victoria Seacombe, said that there are still a number of barriers in the Barossa which need to be broken down in order to improve mental health care.
“Our local GPs and health services are at capacity, and essential services like psychology and psychiatry are extremely limited,” Victoria said.
The issues these people currently face include a lack of available appointments and long wait times, the cost of seeking the support they need and the long travel times out of the region which are often not feasible for a lot of families.
“A local hospital with integrated mental health services would be a transformative step in addressing these challenges,” Victoria said.
Linda Ladlams, Seeds of Hope SPN secretary and development officer for rural and remote health services, said that often it can be difficult for those with a mental health condition to seek the help they need so far away.
“The thought of travelling to a metropolitan area to get support is enough to put people off from getting any support at all, whereas if there was somewhere local, people would feel safe to go and seek that support. If somebody had to have an inpatient stay, they would feel a lot safer doing that, knowing that they could have a visitor every day,” Linda said.
“And I think that’s one of the biggest problems many rural areas face if there’s any support required for any inpatient stay, the majority have to go to Adelaide for that and people, they’re at their most vulnerable, as I said, they are scared...so a lot of the times they actually just won’t seek that support.
“And unfortunately, we all know that the longer somebody doesn’t seek support, means that their condition worsens and, in some cases, the next step’s taken that can’t be untaken.
Deputy Chairperson, Susan Raven, explained that part of Seeds of Hope’s role is to facilitate training and provide resources to assist the community on how to help someone who is going through a tough time or a crisis.
“The next step is, if the person says yes, then what do you do? We have really a major lack of resources, you know, where to take someone,” Susan said.
“Quite often we’ll recommend to go to a GP – GPs are hard to get into these days, if we had a larger regional hospital with a mental health team attached to it, or at least registered nurses and medical staff, doctors, that have mental health training, then that would be the place that we would recommend.”
Jan Hoffman said she remembers arriving in the Barossa in 1997, when conversations about a new Barossa Hospital had already been happening for some years.
Since then, she has observed the population grow dramatically, and become less of a country area that it once was.
Jan and Susan both agreed that they would love to see a calm and inviting space at a Barossa Hospital, not unlike the Urgent Mental Health care centre in the Adelaide CBD.
Jan recalled one instance when she had to visit the emergency department at the Lyell McEwin hospital, and says she was thankful she didn’t present there with a mental health condition.
The level of activity at hospital emergency departments can be quite overstimulating and chaotic, as often there are a lot of people in pain, and in distress.
“You take a person who is struggling to there (the emergency department) and they’re out the door in five seconds flat,” Jan said.
Susan recalled taking one person to a larger regional hospital, and after a few days’ respite, they had recovered enough to return home after being in a safe, caring environment.
“That’s the hope that you would have for a regional hospital, that if you were to present with a mental illness or situation that the right type of care would be provided to recover from a crisis state,” Susan said.
If a life is in danger call 000. Further services include:
LIFELINE (24 hours)
P: 131 114
REGIONAL ACCESS COUNSELLING SERVICE (24 hours)
P: 1300 032 186
BAROSSA CARES (24 hours)
P: 8563 8444