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Wesley LifeForce’s Coffs Coast Suicide Prevention Initiative is doing vital work in the Coffs Harbour community. Network Chair/Coordinator, Dom shares below how this network is impacting many lives.
Suicide impacts a significant portion of the population. What barriers does your team find when initiating conversations about mental health and suicide prevention?
For people living with their own suicidal thoughts, it is often very difficult to put up their hand and say, ‘this is what’s going on for me and I need help’. When we feel like that, we lose touch with our rational problem-solving skills, and so we know that loss of capacity really impacts people getting help.
For people who are trying to support someone they’re worried about, it can be a terrifying experience. Yet, being equipped with skills in how to support someone in this situation is really not spoken about in our society. Often people are scared that if they talk about the topic, it will increase its prevalence.
For people who have lost someone, it is such a horribly isolating experience, because there is definitely still so much misunderstanding in the community around someone taking their own life, and it impacts people sharing about their losses.
Research demonstrates that when we speak about the topic of suicide in a safe, appropriate way using appropriate terminology, it does not lead to increased incidence. It actually empowers a community to look for strategies and solutions to prevent it, and it may also positively impact the experience of bereavement.
The free one-day Suicide Prevention Training sessions offered by Wesley LifeForce sound like a fantastic resource. Can you share what these sessions involve and how they benefit participants?
The training is designed to give people the skills, knowledge and confidence to support people at risk of suicide in their community or workplace. It aims to educate people about suicide, to challenge attitudes and teaches basic engagement and suicide intervention skills. The training really does equip someone with the tools to help save a life.
Fluro Friday at the Coffs Jetty in Coffs Harbour has become a popular weekly event. How did this initiative start and what kind of impact have you seen it have on participants?
Fluro Friday is part of the OneWave movement for mental health awareness, which started about 11 years ago at Bondi Beach. A young man had been really suffering with his mental health and always found surfing was really helpful to his state of mind. One morning he threw on a fluro suit and jumped on his board and spent some time out in the surf.
When he was coming in, someone jokingly said, “Are you just coming home from a night out or something.” And he was really honest, and said, “I’m really struggling but I wanted to try to cheer myself up, so I’ve put on this fluro gear and come for a surf…”
And from that conversation, Fluro Friday began.
OneWave Fluro Friday is now all-around Australia and overseas. The gang at Woolgoolga have been hosting Fluro Friday for about nine years now, and we thought it was time we gave the people of Coffs a chance to have their very own! We’ve been meeting at Coffs Jetty since March, and we’ve turned up at 6.30am every single Friday, rain, hail or shine! For people who come along they feel it’s a safe space to check-in about how they’re going. We’re not counsellors. We’re just ordinary people, creating that space for connection. After our check-in we jump in for a swim, or go for a walk, or sometimes we have a person leading us in yoga or tai chi… and we always finish with a coffee and a yarn.
Your network collaborates with a wide range of services, including Lifeline North Coast, HeadSpace and Mission Australia. What has come from these partnerships?
People from these organisations actually came along to our first meetings, and to this day, are so supportive of us. As a community group, it’s difficult for us to host our own public awareness-raising events, but our collaborations mean we can have a public presence alongside actual mental health and suicide prevention services. It means we can have conversations with people about wellbeing and mental health, we can invite people to come along to Fluro Friday and also let them know about the suicide prevention training which may be coming up in their area.
Many people in your group have lived experience with suicide or its effects. How does this personal connection shape the work you do and the support you offer?
When you have experienced thoughts of suicidality or lost someone who took their own life, you are able to meet people on a much more personal level and have real conversations with them – if that’s what they choose. Importantly, those of us with lived experience in the network have also done a range of training that gives us a safe way to relate to people – without traumatising ourselves or the people we meet.
You’re currently encouraging people who are interested to take on volunteer roles within the network. What kinds of skills or experiences are you looking for in new volunteers and how can they get involved?
Specifically, we are looking to fill our 2025 Committee roles, which include: Chair and or Co Chair (chair meetings and event planning); Secretary (notetaking and meeting planning); Social media management, and support person for event planning. No matter what a person’s skills level is, there is a way for people to contribute, and as the networks are part of a national consortium there is always someone to guide you.
Where can I find out more or get in touch?
Like and follow our Facebook page – where we promote upcoming training, community programs, mental health resources etc. facebook.com/CoffsCoastSPI
For nominations for our 2025 Committee, please email CoffsCoastSPInitiative@gmail.com and we can send out some more information.
We would love to see new faces at our Monthly meetings: 2nd Tuesday of the Month, 4 – 5.30pm.
Venue: Lifeline North Coast meeting room, 2/115 West High Street, COFFS HARBOUR 2450
And, of course, come throw on some bright clothes and join us at Fluro Friday Coffs Jetty at 6.30am Fridays, just near the Coffs Yacht Club access to the beach. Look for our pink fluro banner.
Article and photos were first published in Focus Magazine.
