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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-23 Daily Xml
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Suicide Prevention

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (15:08): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am excited to stand up today and talk about something that I know you have a particular interest in as well, as a former Premier's Advocate for Suicide Prevention. On the weekend, I had the privilege of attending the 2023 Mentally Fit EP wellbeing conference at the Port Lincoln Hotel, on Barngarla country, on the beautiful Eyre Peninsula, which is a lovely part of the member for Flinders' electorate, and it was great to see him there.

I would like to acknowledge Mentally Fit EP, in particular Lain Montgomerie and Emma Gale, for organising and hosting this event. Shout outs also to Country SA PHN, West Coast Youth and Community Support, the Lower Eyre Peninsula Local Health Cluster and Wellbeing SA, who helped make this conference possible.

This conference focused on connection and community, and attendees travelled from all over the Eyre Peninsula and even beyond. People travelled from Ceduna, Streaky Bay, Port Kenny, Wudinna, Kimba, Cummins, Tumby Bay and even Whyalla, to name a few. I met and heard from many incredible people over the two days I was in town. Among them, I heard from Dr Kate Gunn, who spoke about ifarmwell, an online tool to help farmers cope effectively with life's challenges and get the most out of every day, regardless of the circumstances and tough situations they may be facing. Having last year met with Vocal Locals, who promote ifarmwell in Loxton, I had a bit of a fangirl moment meeting Kate. I am so incredibly impressed by her and her work in suicide prevention.

We also got to hear from Andrew Lines from The Rite Journey. Andrew spoke about a number of things, including trampolining and goldfish. Andrew reminded us that back when we were all children, we would head out to the yard and jump on trampolines without much regard to safety. There was no netting to stop us falling off. There was no padding over all those springs, and we all got caught in them at some point. We learnt quickly about edges and dangers and how not to get too close.

Andrew pointed out that a lot of young people these days have a more limited understanding of edges, of risks, because lessons like these have been removed from everyday play. This talk made me appreciate the somewhat dilapidated trampoline sitting in my backyard, knowing that it may teach my child more lessons than its intended purpose. Andrew's presentation served as a reminder that we need to consciously prepare our youth and teach them about life's edges so they know how to navigate them in the future.

On goldfish, Andrew shared a story he heard on how a mum replaced her son's dead goldfish for 16 years because she did not want her child to be upset. The idea, clearly, is just keep going and then your child never, ever has to be upset in their life. I completely understand that sentiment, but I would take this moment to say that it is okay for our children to be upset and emotional. We want them to feel their feelings and feel safe to express them. We need to prepare our children and support them through life's challenges, not protect them always from every challenge and try to solve things for them.

During one of the energisers of the conference—I loved that there were energisers—I got to play giant Jenga with SA Ambulance Service volunteer John Treloar, brother of the former member for Flinders, and later heard him speak on mental health responses in rural communities. It was a stark reminder that ambulance crews in regional towns are often volunteer-led and volunteer-driven, volunteers who can be paged anywhere and at any time and often to a job where they know the person requiring assistance, an incredibly difficult task under any circumstances but particularly so when they are attending a suicide.

People living in a regional or rural area are twice as likely to die by suicide than people in metro areas. Every suicide affects at least 100 people directly and another 3,000 people indirectly, so in a regional community a suicide will often affect everyone. Volunteers like John bridge gaps in regional areas and are the glue that holds South Australia's regional populations together. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Johns out there. You are absolute rock stars.

The regions are going through a transformative time with next generation succession and new residents moving in. What I heard was that many people are increasingly feeling isolated by the speed of change.

It is good to hear research is currently being conducted in Kimba, which will help to gain a better understanding of young people's social needs, with the desire to create more social connection and opportunity for youth outside of sport—because not everyone loves sport—that enhances mental health and wellbeing.

I would like to acknowledge all the wonderful work taking place on Eyre Peninsula and the amazing people who drive that work. If you get the chance, please listen to Lain's and Emma's Mentally Fit Ep and Me podcast, where they interview people from across Eyre Peninsula about their past life and experiences each week.

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