{"id":4230,"date":"2019-11-15T15:30:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T15:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=4230"},"modified":"2019-11-15T15:30:56","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T15:30:56","slug":"mental-health-help-for-fire-ravaged-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/11\/15\/mental-health-help-for-fire-ravaged-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"MENTAL HEALTH HELP FOR FIRE RAVAGED COMMUNITIES"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>People recovering from bushfires that have ravaged NSW communities and taken lives and property are being encouraged to access mental health and counselling services.<br \/>\nMinister for Mental Health Bronnie Taylor said the resilience of people in regional communities is well known, but no one should feel like they need to go it alone in the coming days, weeks, or months.<br \/>\n\u201cMy message to the brave people in fire ravaged communities like those of Northern NSW, the Mid-North Coast and the Hunter is to reach out for help and tap into the counselling and mental health services available on the ground,\u201d Mrs Taylor said.<br \/>\n\u201cThe widespread loss and distress caused by a major event such as this impacts the whole the community, and those affected need support now and in the months ahead.<br \/>\n\u201cDisaster Welfare Services, including counselling support, are currently being provided at 21 Evacuation Centres across the state.\u201d<br \/>\nNSW Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Murray Wright, said many people, including those who are usually healthy and strong, may be experiencing sadness, sleep disturbance, fear or anxiety.<br \/>\n\u201cThis is a very normal reaction, and may be experienced immediately or sometimes much later,\u201d Dr Wright said.<br \/>\nAnyone experiencing persistent issues impacting their day-to-day lives are encouraged to talk to their General Practitioner or regular health care provider.<br \/>\nThe Rural Adversity Mental Health Program (RAMHP), which operates across rural and remote NSW, has coordinators in fire affected areas working directly with communities, providing on the ground support, connecting people to support and assistance and visiting evacuation centres daily.<br \/>\nTo contact your local RAMHP Coordinator go to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ramhp.com.au\/\">https:\/\/www.ramhp.com.au\/<\/a>\u00a0and type in your postcode.<br \/>\nTo contact your local mental health service call the NSW Mental Health Line on\u00a0<strong>1800 011 511<\/strong>. Alternatively you can call Lifeline on\u00a0<strong>131114.<\/strong>\u00a0For practical assistance call the Disaster Welfare Assistance Line\u00a0<strong>1800 018 444.<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 2019\u201320 the NSW Government is investing a record $2.2 million into services and infrastructure for people living with mental illness, and their families and carers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People recovering from bushfires that have ravaged NSW communities and taken lives and property are being encouraged to access mental health and counselling services. Minister for Mental Health Bronnie Taylor said the resilience of people in regional communities is well known, but no one should feel like they need to go it alone in the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/11\/15\/mental-health-help-for-fire-ravaged-communities\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;MENTAL HEALTH HELP FOR FIRE RAVAGED COMMUNITIES&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}