Beating the Blues - Tips

Queenslanders have shown enormous courage throughout the flood crisis and a lot of people will have the support of family and friends to help them get through the tough times ahead. But no one is immune to the emotional distress caused by the floods an for many people it will take a long time to recover. Please know there is help available and that it may be time to seek help if:

• your sleep is badly affected
• you feel very distressed, irritable, on edge or agitated much of the time
• you feel hopeless, despairing, miserable or that you can't go on
• you have trouble concentrating, are distracted and cannot do your usual tasks
• you feel your health is not so good
• you have recurrent nightmares or intrusive thoughts about the emergency
• you have new symptoms or old problems may seem to have returned, eg. breathing, heart and stomach problems.

People can seek help for distress related to the storms and floods through their general practitioner, local Community Health Centre or Mental Health Service, Lifeline (13 11 14) or Australian Red Cross (1800 733 111) or by approaching Queensland Government help desks at local community recovery centres.

1. Find out enough information to identify and assess the needs

Quite often the whole idea of delivering certain services into a community begins with hearing something from someone. However, information from one or two community members is not enough. You need to collect as much information as possible before making any decisions. Whom you will gather information from depends on your particular focus and purposes. Usually it will be community members who are mostly affected by the issue and members who have the knowledge and resources in that area.

2. Find the key people

Find out the key people in the community through asking around. The key people is typically a person: a) active and in touch with many people in their community; b) knowledgeable, passionate; and c) whose name seems to keep popping up. People in the community will refer you to the right person if you keep tracking down. If there is a need in the community, people are generally really happy to help you. Find out the ‘movers’/ ‘shakers’ who are keen to make a change.

3. Listen to the community – ‘bottom-up’ rather than ‘top-down’

A ‘bottom-up’ approach usually refers to decision making that comes from community members without official status or positions. When the decision making process starts from the common people and working its way up to centralised agencies and officials, it is deemed to be ‘bottom-up’. A ‘bottom-up’ approach is usually contrasted with a ‘top-down’, one-size-fits-all approach.

 When trying to engage in rural community, ‘bottom-up’ approach always works better. Listen to the community and deliver the services they in ways that best suit them. Don’t deliver services to the communities just because you think they need them, or even simply just for the purpose of finishing off certain program.

 4. Use local facilities for meetings or other activities

Use local facilities for any purposes of the services or activities if possible. This will increase the accessibility for the community members and hence increase the engagement level. It also increases people’s senses of comfort and security.

 5. Pick the right time that suits the community

Generally, night-time meeting works better than meeting on the day-time. Be aware of the work cycle of farming and businesses - avoid busy times such as harvest time and end-of-financial-year time.

6.  Always respect the way communities interact with each other

Being aware of the way communities interact with each other is important. For example, people living in smaller towns are used to traveling long distance to access services in bigger towns; while people living in bigger regional centers may not be willing to travel out of town. Be aware of such ‘flow’ when you try to arrange a location for meetings, services or other events.  

7.  Use local networks to distribute information

Usually there are various existing networks available in the community. Find them out and try to engage them. For example, you can use the email network of some community groups to distribute your information sheets; or use local community newsletters, such as school newsletter, to distribute your information.

8. Make a safety plan for yourself

Working with rural communities frequently requires travelling – sometimes it could be long travelling to a completely strange place. If possible, always let someone knows where you are heading to and when you will be back. If you are meeting someone, it is a good idea to let that person know another contact number – you may not be available for any reasons.

9. Let people know that you understand their pain.

When working with people experienced/experiencing difficult times, listen respectively and attentively, and acknowledge what people are telling you. Remember that their experiences are very real for them.

10. Find out the common threads between different opinions

Look for the points in common that community members may have and work around these strengths to help them achieve the outcomes they are looking for.