A community in western Victoria has taken its mental health needs into its own hands, and it is starting to pay dividends. The innovative program is now being used as a model for other regional communities.
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00:00Psychology student Aoife Dunn is preparing for another day helping students at Ararat
00:07West Primary cope with the day-to-day pressures of school life.
00:11We've had challenges I didn't expect such as bushfires, complexities with living on
00:17farms and yeah the unique challenges that the kids face.
00:22She's one of a group of students doing their masters in clinical psychology who have been
00:26placed in Ararat district schools two days a week to help meet the mental health needs
00:31of young people.
00:32Our kids now are more engaged in the classroom, their attendance is better, our staff is supported
00:38because instead of just having issues we're able to resolve them really quickly.
00:44The program is the brainchild of two friends, a school principal and a clinical psychologist
00:49who decided to take action in a time of crisis.
00:53Within a four-year period the communities of two Ararat schools had lost seven people
00:58to suicide and the coronavirus pandemic was taking a toll.
01:02I was running my private practice from my study in my house and being overwhelmed and
01:08inundated with referrals by parents who were just struggling with nowhere to go, no resources.
01:17They created the not-for-profit One Red Tree Resource Centre starting with one student
01:22placement and growing to now offer up to 18 each semester.
01:26The program received a major boost in the state budget last month with 1.47 million
01:32dollars assigned to improve the program and boost support for training psychologists.
01:37It's hoped the program will become a model that can help schools across regional Victoria.
01:42Best thing that we can do is like provide all the support they need and then hopefully
01:47encourage them to love the area so much that some of them might want to come back.
01:51I love the kids here, I love being out in the community.
01:55A true win-win situation.