Visit to Lifeline Northern Beaches.

On Tuesday August 23 our club members met at the facilities of Lifeline Northern Beaches in Balgowlah where many of their programs and operations were explained, and we had a great opportunity to view their facilities.

Initially we assembled in the Lifeline shop which had an amazing array of quality goods and memorabilia

One interesting aspect of the shop’s items called Altered State is the makeup of innovative ways of making unique items from unsalable donations.

I notice it was written up in the latest edition of the Tawny Frogmouth.

Lifeline Northern Beaches- What they do

We then were given a series of presentations on Lifeline services, showing how Lifeline network leads the way in providing crisis support and suicide prevention services to Australians in need, 24/7.

The Balgowlah centre is one of 40 around the country delivering services to their immediate areas, including our own.

Lifeline Northern Beaches was established almost 50 years ago to serve the area stretching from Kirribilli to Palm Beach. It is independent organisation with a local Board, a small number of salaried staff, and over 600 volunteers, who provide invaluable support. Lifeline Northern Beaches is also a Public Benevolent Institution, registered with the Australian Charities and not-for-profits commission.

Lifeline Northern Beaches’ primary purpose is to provide quality telephone and in-person support to relieve the distress caused by crisis situations.

The services they outlined included:

·       24/7 Telephone Crisis Support/24-hour Suicide Prevention via the national support service on 13 11 14

Where some calls are answered

The statistics:

• Every day almost eight Australians die by suicide, with seven attempted suicides every hour.
• Suicide is the leading cause of death in men under the age of 45 and women under the age of 32.
• In a typical year at Lifeline Northern Beaches, our 180 volunteers answer over 65,000 calls from people in crisis.

·       Face to face counselling - counsellors are available for specialised, face-to-face counselling sessions – both during and after business hours, and on weekends.

 

·       Financial counselling - expert financial counsellors who are trained to help you understand your situation and find a way out.

• Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) - designed to establish links between people who are living in a Residential Aged Care Facility (RACF) and their local community. (funded by the Commonwealth Government)

·       Support groups - including those for grief & loss, depression, suicide bereavement, anger management, problem gambling, managing emotions and many other issues)

• Training - Every year Lifeline Northern Beaches trains around 90 Volunteers in our Telephone Crisis Supporter Workplace Training (CSWT), a Nationally Recognised Training program on behalf of Lifeline Australia. These dedicated volunteers take calls on Lifeline’s twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week Telephone Crisis Support Line 13 11 14 and last year Lifeline Northern Beaches answered 63,891 calls for crisis support.

 

There is a short program called Accidental Counsellor and the training will equip the person to

• ·       RECOGNISE when others are struggling

• ·       RESPOND appropriately with confidence and

• ·       REFER someone to the best community-based help on the northern beaches

Now more than ever we need to be alert to common signs or behaviour changes that may occur when someone is struggling due to a personal crisis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·Lifeline Shops where the local community can donate goods for re-sale, with the profits going to Lifeline – including an online store and their donation warehouse.

· Book Fairs and events that engage the local community and enable us to raise funds

 

We all thanked Lifeline Northern Beaches for the excellent and essential work that they perform and opening up their facility and explaining in depth their operations at Balgowlah.

L to R: Katie Biggs, Barbara Stenhouse, Angela Wade, Pres Rick, Jackie Hamer, Sarah Watts-Smith, Wendy Filianos and Rotarian Rhonda (who is also a counsellor at LNB)