WORKING with Lifeline Broken Hill, the Royal Flying Doctors Services’ We’ve Got Your Back initiative is seeking to provide local station owners and graziers who’ve experienced mental health struggles connected with people impacted by drought and mental illness to find professional support.
One of these rural graziers is mental health advocate Richard Wilson, who engaged as a “champion” or mentor with the program when it launched in 2020.
Mr Wilson lives on a 300,000-hecatre station near White Cliffs and has endured his share of mental health struggles over the years, though never knew what name to give his turmoil.
“When I got crook 12 or 13 years ago, I thought I had cancer or something,” he said.
“I didn’t know what was affecting me. I never even considered depression.”
Mr Wilson said the penny dropped for him when having a conversation about mental illness with an acquaintance who shared their story with him.
“I thought, that’s what I’ve got,” he said.
The next day he visited a GP and was diagnosed with depression.
“It was a massive weight lifted off my shoulders to get the diagnosis,” he said.
“I thought righto, I’m going to beat this, I’m going to get help.
“So, I went to a counsellor and began medication, and I’ve been good as gold.”
Mr Wilson said he felt humbled when he was approached to be a champion for program by RFDS staff, and agreed knowing how important initiating conversations about mental health had been for him.
“Our role is really to go along to different functions and give short talks and invite people to ask questions, and to encourage people to seek help with GP or counsellor,” he said.
“The biggest thing was getting over that barrier to seeking help.”
When he received his diagnosis, Mr Wilson said there was still a stigma attached to mental health, particularly for men, but nowadays having open dialogue has changed the way people perceive the issue.
“Most people don’t think they’ll ever get it, and often they think it’s a sign of weakness,” he said.
“Nowadays, more people are openly talking about it, and that’s the best thing.”
Mr Wilson said the hardest part is always reaching out for help initially.
“The first step is when people put their hand up and say, please help me,” he said.
“Once they can put their hand up and say I need some help, they’re already over the biggest hurdle, just in admitting that.”
Since taking part in the We’ve Got Your Back program, Mr Wilson said he’s been amazed by the resilience of people who have reached out for support.
“I had one bloke that rang me, and he’d tried calling three other people before he finally got me,” he said.
“And I thought, how strong is this bloke? He never gave up that day till he found help.”
Mr Wilson said he doesn’t mind taking calls any time of day if it means offering someone the support they need.
“People can ring me 24 hours a day, I don’t mind, because it’s so important when people are at their lowest to have someone answer the phone,” he said.
At 71 years old, Mr Wilson lives with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren on a station where the family run cattle, sheep and goats.
He said since moving to the Far West more than 10 years ago he’s experienced drought years and the difficulties they bring.
“During the last drought, which was from 2017 and went for four years, there was a lot of pressure and people were really depressed about survival,” he said.
“Drought puts pressure on everything.
“We sold everything in the first year, and the place was overrun with kangaroos who were dying horrific deaths everywhere.”
Mr Wilson and his family looked to make the best of a bad situation by using the drought period to clean dams, which can only be done while they’re empty.
He said people who have experienced drought in the past can have their trauma resurface when it’s been dry for a few months.
“There’s been a little rain about the last six months, but we haven’t had too much at all, so that can resurface those drought years, and you start to think of, we’re going back to that,” he said.
As part as of the effort, Mr Wilson is encouraging people to come to social events and stay connected, especially during times of drought.
“It can be hard for people to want to go out and socialise during dry times,” he said.
“You’re watching the dollars, looking at everything, what stock you had, and it’s hard to want to go out and see people.”
As part of that effort, Mr Wilson organised events like motor maintenance courses to encourage locals to engage socially, with the added benefit of learning something.
“We had maybe 30 people come and these guys from Broken Hill talked about motorbike and small motor maintenance,” he said.
“It was really great to create a social environment where we could get them there and have something interesting for them to go to.”
Mr Wilson said the difficulty with remaining socially connected in the Far West is the requirement to travel long distances to see people.
“A lot of people travel 150 kilometres just to have a barbecue with a neighbour out here,” he said.
“So, community activities are really important, things like gymkhanas.
“People come out, bring their caravans, bring their tents, stop at the pub and have conversations.
“All these young kids that generally only see other on the screen via School of the Air get to physically get out and see their mates.
“Those community functions are so critical.”
Mr Wilson said that letting people know there’s plenty of help available to them if they are feeling isolated or depressed is the most important function of the program.
“There’s no state or gender boundaries, it’s everyone working for the same thing and that is to help people out and get them back on track.”
Anyone struggling is encouraged to reach out to a We’ve Got Your Back Champion, whose contact details can be found on the RFDS website. Richard Wilson can be reached on 0438 093 682.
For crisis support contact the Far West Local Health District Community Mental Health Team on 08 8080 1554, call Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14, Beyond Blue or 1300 224 636, headspace or 1800 650 890, or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.
