Remind yourself you’ve been through difficult times before when facing a crisis - that’s the advice of a Lifeline Central West telephone counselor who deals with people struggling to cope. 

Jacqui Lindsay, a telephone crisis supporter for Lifeline Central West, told the Western Plain App this kind of self-care is particularly important because mental health services can be hard to come by in the Western Plains. 

“People often call us when they are highly anxious or in a depressive episode,” she explained. 

“If we start in a short-term space, we talk about grounding them in the moment and getting them to do some kind of breathing technique. Then we ask them about difficult times they have got through before and how they got through it because often it’s the case they have forgotten they do have the resources to get through their problems,” Lindsay told the Western Plains App. 

Lindsay explained that many people call Lifeline during a crisis but also because of loneliness.

“We have many elderly people from the Western Plains call us - many of them regularly because they feel like their family doesn’t pay much attention, and they feel very alone in their twilight years.” 

There was another group who often called because they felt similarly abandoned by their families - though for different reasons. 

“Young people who have serious mental health and substance abuse issues. Now they often call from payphones and say ‘Please can you talk to me, my family want nothing to do with me’ - and I have to say those are the ones that really hit me in the heart”. 

Lindsay said she became a Lifeline volunteer after her brother died several years ago. 

Image: Pixabay. 

“He was an alcoholic, and so many times he would call me at night when he was tanked. I had young children to look after and dinners to cook, and dishes to be done, so I always had to say, please call Lifeline. Which he did. So many times. So for all the times, they saved his life, I thought that when he died, I owed to Lifeline to go there and be a volunteer telephone counselor”. 

One thing she has noticed is how a lack of mental health services is causing problems for people across the Western Plains. 

“Access to affordable mental health is one of the most common things that come up in our calls to Lifeline Central West. A lot of people are isolated from their families, so they don’t have much psycho-social support, so they do really on professional services in the area”. 

She said there are many examples of people feeling suicidal and not able to get help in the system. 

“It might be three weeks to get a GP appointment. Then however much longer to see a psychologist, and then they may not even be able to afford the gap fee to see a psychologist. So often the only place for them to go is their local hospital, and often that happens they just get sent home, and so they never want to go there again”. 

She said while an encouraging number of Sydney-based psychologists are now offering fully bulk-billed services by telehealth - she says people can help themselves in crisis situations and through difficult mental health. 

“I think that’s the first thing to do - remind yourself you can help yourself, tell yourself you’ve been through tough times before and you can do it again. You already have things in your toolkit that you have used before that doesn’t require professional help”. 

“We deal with so many people facing situations they can’t control. So ask yourself, how can I weather the storm? I can’t stop the storm. How can I get through it? What are the things I can control? I can control putting healthy food in my mouth, what am I putting in my body, sleeping well, showering.”  

“I often ask the question, what brings you joy, and it might. For example, I used to love horses, I love going for a walk in nature, and we can remind ourselves about the joy life can bring once the rain stops."