Blue Mountains Women’s Mental Health Forum 2024
On 6th April 2024, a Blue Mountains local, and friend, Erin Grace suicided. Through our communal grief the community began reaching out to each other to make sense of how she arrived at the decision to end her life. Through our conversations it became apparent that she had spoken to many people throughout her journey. We all had different portions of her story but few knew it in its entirety.
As i journeyed with the grief, I felt an impetus to do something, to make a change in how we navigate the rhetoric around suicide and accessibility to help surrounding mental health. I just kept thinking, how many more? How many more would it take for us to change? At the time of writing this, 9 Australians suicide every day, that is double the daily road toll and it is the #1 threat to Australians lives, between the ages of 18-44.
It was from grief that a seed of an idea was born - an event that worked to empower women in order to improve help seeking behaviours. The inaugural event was held on 13th October - Erin’s birthday as a way to honour her life. The event was held at Mavis Wood Hall in Lawson.
In attendance were 22 local practitioners/organisations, as well as our local members for parliament - Trish Doyle and Susan Templeman. Councillor Suzie Van Opdorp was also present. On arrival, attendees were presented with a gift bag containing a journal, practitioner/organisation pamphlets, a pebble and textas for the art therapy session and two resource booklets.
The day began with formalities - a Welcome to Country by Gundungurra woman, Kelsie King, followed by an introduction to the event by myself as the event organiser, and then Trish Doyle and Susan Templeman spoke briefly.
The first of the events for the day was an introduction to the 22 local practitioners who spoke briefly on who they were, where they were based and what they specialised in. Following the introductions, a panel consisting of 5 therapists (Kirsten Barnett, Christie Little, Kimberly Ryan, Louise Wallace Walsh & Mellanie Rollans) answered questions that the audience had submitted. Other practitioners also got up to help answer questions if it was in their area of specialty.
The photo included with this blog is of the practitioners on the stage during the panel. I asked them if they would sit on the stage to avoid the power dynamic that exists between mental health professional and client. It was important to ensure the attendees felt empowered to take in the information that was being generated through the discussions.
Following the panel, there was a session on Nervous System Regulation run by local practitioner, Dr Jess Siegle, where attendees were introduced to different methods of regulating themselves ie breathing, tapping (EFT), fidget toys, Shakti mats etc.
The attendees were then also invited to take part in an Art Therapy session facilitated by local Art Therapist - Nicole Powell. Attendees were guided through a brief meditation, and then invited to draw or write on the pebbles in their gift bags. They were then invited to place them on the ground outside and create a community path in which they were invited to wander and take in the other words or images scribed by the other participants. This was a beautiful way of connecting people who may have never met each other before the event and went to creating a sense of community. The attendees were then invited to either collect their own pebble or pick up someone else’s if they had left theirs behind.
The final portion to the day was a djembe drum playing session with Emily from Hands Heart & Feet and Caitlyn Palmer from Rythmkind - a way to move some of the potential stuck energy from sitting for so long earlier in the day.
Just prior to beginning the drumming, I created a beautiful moment of connectivity through ritual. Participants were invited to pass around a ball of yarn, wrapping it around their wrist as they went, creating one line of connection around the circle. I asked them whilst they were doing this to think of something beneficial that had come out of the day for them, whether it be information, support, or a felt sense of community, of not being alone. I then cut the lines between each participant and they were asked to turn to the person next to them and ask them/offer to tie their yarn with the idea we need to lean on community, that we don’t have to do things all by ourselves. The final note of the ritual was that in life we can feel really isolated, particularly when we are struggling or having a hard time with mental health. The yarn served as a small reminder that in those times of struggle, we can look down at our wrists and be reminded that we are not alone, that there was a community of women, in the same space, for the same purpose.
The drumming began shortly after and provided some laughter and fun to round the day off.
I am currently working on next year’s event which will be held the weekend of the 11th & 12th October 2025.
