With the recent natural disasters throughout Australia and across the globe, it is easy to let the weight of the world get us down. However, a new service is allowing people in the area to access free counselling that is usually only available in city areas.
Launched at the beginning of August, the free counselling sessions run for an hour and are conducted face-to-face. At the moment, the service runs from offices in Warwick on Mondays, Stanthorpe on Tuesdays and Allora on Wednesdays.
Counsellor and family therapist Janine Hills runs the service under the auspices of Lifeline Darling Downs & Southern Queensland; the service is funded by the Federal Government.
“The funding acknowledges the after effects felt in these communities, having gone through not only severe flooding events, but all the other global events that have followed that,” Janine said.
“I’m seeing clients with a whole range of issues: family relationships, anxiety, depression, isolation. People who use the service don’t have to be directly affected by the floods and their issue does not need to be related to the floods.”
Individuals, couples and families are able to access the counselling service, which has already proven popular within the community.
“I think it is actually fulfilling a really obvious gap for people, to be able to access counselling without having to go to their doctor for a referral,” Janine said.
“It’s creating some equity for people in these regional areas who haven’t had a free face-to-face counselling service. Not everyone can travel to Toowoomba or Ipswich to access counselling through Lifeline directly.”
Appointments for the free one-hour counselling session should be booked directly with Janine Hills by calling 0409 204 200. If the phone is unattended, please leave a message and Janine will return your call.
If you need to speak to someone in a crisis or prefer to talk over the telephone, please contact the Lifeline Telephone Counselling Service on 131 114.
Story: Seren Trump
