scone.com.auReal Time Answers to Real Issues
NEXT Wednesday the Where There’s A Will team have organised for an expert in mental health first aid to be online to answer questions about mental health.
Geoffrey Ahern, who works on a specialised mental health response team with the Victorian Police said the two questions he is asked most often are what do you do when someone does not want help and how do you get men to engage around mental health?
“So I’ll be sitting at home on my computer and talking into the screen and anybody who is on the Where There’s A Will Facebook page can then type in a question and I can answer it for them,” said Mr Ahern.
“They might ask what are the signs and symptoms of depression and I can answer them in real time,” he said.
“Or it may be something more complex if someone is developing schizophrenia or bi-polar and it can give you the confidence to help a bit further,” he said.
“We can also give advice on how to access mental health services, because a lot of people are not aware there is a 24 hour mental health triage line available in every state and they ca speak to an experienced clinician and get advice about the language you can use to help get a person into care,” he said.
“A good example might be a young man who is really angry, is depressed and is using alcohol and the family might ring up and they’ll focus on talking about how angry he is and that he has been using drugs and what’s actually happening is that’s his coping strategy but sometimes the person taking the call might just hear that he is angry and think it is behavioural, whereas if you have the language and talk about the substance abuse and that he is normally calm and placid then they can assess the situation better,” Geoffrey Ahern said.
People can simply visit the Where There’s A Will Facebook page and at 7:30 the live feed will pop up on the screen and people can ask questions by typing on the feed, similar to typing a comment on Facebook.
Link to the Facebook page: Where There’s A Will.
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