Called to Canberra

Filed in Recent News by Elizabeth Flaherty January 18, 2017

BILL Shorten, leader of the federal opposition has reached out to Pauline Carrigan to learn more about how Where There’s A Will aims to reduce suicide.

“With much excitement we got an email from his office and the reason we were particularly excited about being contacted by Bill Shorten’s office was the fact that we have been trying to get anyone in any form of government to listen to our plan,” said Mrs Carrigan.

“The one thing we wanted to speak to the government about was never about financing, it was never about them changing the education department in anyway, we wanted to talk to them about the fact that we were keeping a template and if they recognised our work and kept an eye on our work that we think this is the answer,” she said.

“I think the barrier has been, it couldn’t possibly have happened in Scone, what we are doing is so simple and so bare that it sees impossible that it could work, but I think it’s the simplicity of what we are doing which is making it so successful,” Pauline Carrigan said.

Since day one the Where There’s A Will Foundation has kept templates to be able to share what they have done and how they have done it with other regional communities.

Pauline said she thought in a few years other towns may want those templates, but regional communities are already contacting them for assistance.

“From the ABC’s 7:30 Report towns have contacted us from throughout Australia such as Gunnedah, Narrabri, Ballarat, Toowoomba, Wollongong and they want this plan,” said Mrs Carrigan.

“The fact that these communities are writing in to us saying ‘we have the money, we have the will power, we just need your plan’, it’s been overwhelming,” she said.

Pauline thinks the secret to their success so far is that they have a template that is flexible and can adapt to the needs of each school and each community.

“Professor Toni Noble always said from the beginning that it is important that we have allowed every school to keep their full autonomy and select what programs in what direction that suited their population and their students, rather than us going in and saying ‘this is the program you have to do and this is the way it’s going to go’, we’ve just said we’ll support you regardless of your journey,” Pauline Carrigan said.

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