Baradine footballers have participated in a suicide awareness course.

Members of the Baradine Magpies Rugby League Football Club (RLFC) and supporters rolled up to a mental health skills workshop held at the Baradine Bowling club on Saturday.

Presented by the Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (RAMHP), Baradine Magpies RLFC treasurer, Neil Cooney said that the club initiative was an outcome from a mental health fundraising event.

“The club held a Calcutta auction some time ago initially with the aim of donating funds to one of the mental health charities,” Mr Cooney said. “Then Jason Dewson contacted us after the sad suicide of Matt Dewson and suggested we do something locally in the way of training that would help us to spot signs of suicide in others.

“We heard about a football club in the Northern Territory who had started a suicide prevention program called Katherine Mental Mates that has helped players keep an eye on their mates. We decided that we wanted to do something similar and it has progressed from there.

“When you or someone you care about is going through a hard time or are experiencing mental health challenges, finding the right support and information can make a huge difference," he said.

“We are hoping that some of the other district footy clubs might come on board and do the training as well. It can be very difficult to reach out to a friend that may be struggling with mental health and we received a lot of great information at this session.” 

RAMHP workshop facilitator, Gabby Schultz talked about mental health and well-being and answered questions on the service options available to meet individual needs."

“We discussed various aspects of mental health, including common conditions, breaking stigma, and where to go for help and support,” Ms Shultz said. “We hear a lot about mental health, especially in our small rural communities and it is important to recognise when someone's not coping well or needing support and what supports are available and how to access them.

“It was a fabulous group to work with. We had a lot of questions, a lot of input and a lot of people sharing what experiences they'd had.

“The difference between the support skills workshop and a full mental health first aid course is that this session was a condensed version, but it still provides essential skills and information. It was held in a conversational style with people in the group contributing.  

“It was great to see that there were some young people attending as well some older ones, but of course mental health can affect anyone at any age and does.  There are a lot of people in our rural communities that are impacted in one way or another and today everyone was keen to find out the best way to offer support.”

Gabby said that the most important way to help someone is to let them know that they are cared for.  

“If you are concerned about someone there are a range of interventions available depending on need,” she added. “Being able to assist them is really important. “Information on services and how to access them can be found on the RAMHP website and we are a funded program so there are no fees for any of the mental health workshops. We are happy to speak to groups, even a very small number of people. 

“If they are keen to find out, we are keen to give them the information.”