Kim Freeman from Aspire is guest speaker at Rotary Club meeting

In 1995, Aspire received support funding from the Department of Human Services (Victoria) now known as the Department of Health, to deliver a range of programs in SW Victoria under the Psychiatric Disability and Rehabilitation Service Framework.  The services in Victoria have been expanded to include carer support, Community Support Service (CSS) program, peer support, a volunteers program, respite and mental health promotion and education programs.

Kim outlined that he was born and bred in Portland, went to school in Hamilton and shifted to Port Fairy in mid 1980’s.  He and his wife Karin, who works the Moyne Health Service, have resided in Port Fairy for around 27 years.  Earlier in his career he worked in recreation and tourism for the then Borough of Port Fairy and Shire of Belfast Councils.  He believed that this part of his career enhanced his personal well-being by being involved with people, especially in the tourism sector.  Working in recreation and tourism provided him the opportunity to come together with others with a sense of belonging and achievement.

Kim prefaced his talk by stating that mental illness can a difficult topic to discuss despite the fact that it is prevalent in the general community is very high.  He is currently the Manager of Health Promotion and Education at Aspire. 

Aspire had its beginnings in Warrnambool when like minded people in the community – including carers of people with a mental illness, business and community people, the then Warrnambool City Mayor Toni McCormack - held a public meeting on a cold winter night at which an organisation was formed to promote and advocate for greater support for people a mental illness and their carers in the south west Victorian region.

It was from this meeting that Aspire evolved and was initially funded by people putting their hands in their pockets and by philanthropic donations only.  Aspire is not a government agency, but a community-based, not-for-profit, Incorporated Association that is closely managed by a Board.  Since its beginnings in 1989, following receipt of seed funding in the early 1990s, it has grown to handle an annual income of $4M per annum in 2011-2012 and continues to receive philanthropic support.

In 1995, Aspire extended its services into Tasmania as well continuing support in the South West region of Victoria.   Apart from a small team managed by Kim, that delivers mental health promotion and education programs and training, Aspire also employs rehabilitation and recovery workers who work closely with clinical psychologists to assist people in their recovery from episodes of mental illness and associated psychiatric disability.

The longest running education program delivered by Aspire is secondary schools mental health education programs which Kim and his team have being delivering in schools in the SW region for around twelve years.  The unique thing about the schools program it that is always involves an Aspire volunteer who has a lived experience of mental illness.  Aspire’s volunteers also actively involved other education programs in the general community.

Their focus on school children is in Years 9, 10 and 11 is because 75% of all mental illnesses are diagnosed by 25 years of age.  Therefore it is crucial for young people and schools to be better educated about mental illness and the importance of looking after mental health and wellbeing.  It is reported that 1 in 4 young people in that age bracket, in any six-month period, will experience a mental health problem that could trigger a psychiatric disorder.  Consequently, it is important to recognise the symptoms and encourage and support early intervention. 

The most common forms of mental illness are anxiety and depressive disorders while schizophrenia and bipolar disorders a less common.  However, these are the two mental illnesses that we hear a lot about.  Kim pointed out that it was important to remember that people experience “episodes” of mental illness and that early intervention, treatment and support is crucial.

The core role of the Aspire Rehabilitation and recovery service is individualised one on one home based outreach and the provision of psychosocial rehabilitation for individuals aged between 16 and 65 who experience psychiatric disability due to serious mental illness.  The service is non-clinical that focuses on an individuals rehabilitation and recovery.

Aspire, through its Sage Hill program, provide critical support for carers of people with mental illness.  Aspire has offices in Warrnambool, Camperdown and Portland they typically service around 260 individuals per month, including those carrying out the all-important role of carers.  Kim pointed out that carers were often younger people and that there were currently 125 carers under 19 in the south west region.

The major focus of the Health Promotion and Education team is to –

•       Increase community awareness and understanding of mental illness;
•       Reduce stigma associated with mental illness;
•       Promote the importance of having and maintain good mental health and well-being.

In this regard, it is recognised that volunteers in sporting associations and clubs are key “gatekeepers” and well placed to recognise and support a young person who may be distressed.  Aspire delivers a “Read the Play” program in junior sporting and recreation clubs to help early detection and intervention.  Working on the principle that information is empowering.

Aspire’s objective is to inform the community on the importance of early intervention and the need to reduce the stigma about mental illness.

Aspire also delivers Mental Health First Aid (adult and youth program) training which teacher adults to be a mental first aiders in the same way as we can be trained as physical first aiders.  MHFA was developed in Australia and in the ten years it has operating has trained 180,000 people or 1% of the adult populating in Australia.

In the modern era, life’s stressors, including workplace demand stress which is a 24/7 phenomenon, are major contributors to people developing mental health distress and for some developing mental illnesses. 

Other triggers can be natural disasters and Kim pointed out that many volunteers affected by the Black Saturday fires are still being supported.  He emphasised that the contributing factors to mental illness are not genetic – life and society create the majority of mental illness, trauma is also major trigger.  Bullying, whether it be physical or via tweeting or Facebook channels, is a major contributing factor particularly in the adolescent population.

The growth in life stressors is exponential and more and more young people are being diagnosed with anxiety and depressive disorders not only in Australia but globally.  Suicides rates in Australia average around 6 suicides per day (2,200 per year) which is more than the national road toll and therefore a major health issue for the nation.

Anxiety and depressive disorders are very treatable, usually managed by a GP and there is increased education of GP’s occurring in recognising and treating these mental illnesses.  GPs now are required to do mandatory, mental health training and Aspire delivers programs to GPs in partnership with the Southern GP Training Network.  Aspire was only recently involved in delivering this training to 32 GPs at Deakin University in Geelong.

In closing, Kim pointed out that people with mental illness can and do recover.  Mental health professionals are focused on “keeping individuals well through clinical treatments and relapse prevention self help strategies” and although there is often a stigma (unnecessarily) attached to mental institutions and asylums they fulfil an essential role in the recovery process by giving  people the time to heal. 

There is, however, a need to do more work on “relapse prevention” as some people are discharged from hospital around Australia without proper support – many being discharged from hospital straight into a taxi without proper follow-up and support.  He pointed out that this does not happen when someone with a physical medical condition is discharged from hospital.

The Club thanked Kim for what was an enlightening and thought provoking presentation.  Although there was a smaller group of around 13 members at the meeting, those present were extremely appreciative of the talk and the information provided.