Push For Localised Mental Health Care

Goolgowi’s Marie Clarke’s effort towards suicide prevention has seen her chosen as 2021’s Murray Woman of the Year.

NSW State Murray MP Helen Dalton said she chose Ms Clarke for her extraordinary work to improve mental health services in her region.

“Marie Clarke has done incredible work in turning things around in her community,” Mrs Dalton said.

“She organised a shire-wide community meeting to canvas ideas; initiated a petition to bring mental health services to Murrumbidgee hospitals; made some important steps to get a counsellor into the town and hosted Manly rugby league star Joel Thompson to give a talk on mental health.”

The next big thing on Ms Clarke’s agenda is a Full Monty-style show in October.

“That was probably the easiest thing to organise,” Ms Clarke said. “It wasn’t hard to convince certain blokes to do a striptease.”

She has also secured the old Carrathool Council building to be utilised for mental health.

“We are hoping to get a counsellor in Goolgowi at least a few days a week, so people don’t have to travel hours for mental health support,” Ms Clarke said.

“Any help to get this initiative off the ground would be most welcome. Like many country towns, Goolgowi has a high rate of suicide and Mrs Dalton said it was vital for the government to fund better mental health services in the region.

“If you’re suicidal, you’re not going to travel three hours for counselling,” she said.

“At the very least, we need proper mental health services in our hospitals.

“We have amongst the highest suicide rate in Australia, but not one hospital in the Murray region as an inpatient mental health facility.” Ms Clarke is petitioning to get mental health units in our hospitals. She has asked local businesses to download and print out copies for their customers to sign.

Her petition can be downloaded from https://www.helendalton.com.au/petition_for_mental_health_units_in_our_hospitals.

“If 10,000 people sign, I can take the petition to NSW Parliament to be debated,” Mrs Dalton

“The NSW Government won’t be able to sweep this issue under the carpet anymore.”

• Topics:

• Mental Health and Welbeing
• Awards