A PROMINENT mental health advocate wants to establish a working group to address what he describes as a major problem in Port Stephens, beginning with a forum in April.
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Don McDonald is an Order of Australia recipient for advocacy in schizophrenia and has been shocked with the poor standard of mental health here, in general, since he’s retired in Nelson Bay.
“I have become more and more aware of the widespread incidence of mental illness and suicide in the local community,” he said.
Even he was surprised with the large turnout for Port Stephens MP Kate Washington’s mental health forum – further evidence, he said, of disease’s devastating undertow.
“It was a good meeting but it was just government officials in the end talking about government policy.”
“I was really surprised just how many people came.”
Soon after the meeting Mr McDonald contacted eminent neuroscientist, Professor Cynthia Weickert, to see if she might attend a forum on mental health.
As the founder of the Schizophrenia Research Institute of Australia, Mr McDonald had previously recruited her from the United States to do targeted research on the disease that could soon have broader benefits for mental health.
“She’s one of the world’s leading researchers on schizophrenia and she’s agreed to take part in a forum,” he said.
“This won’t be a lecture but a forum for people to ask questions.”
Rather than a one-off he’s treating the forum as the launch pad for improved services in Port Stephens.
As a prelude to the forum Mr McDonald has organised for Prof Weickert and her husband, Emeritus Prof Tom Weickert, to meet with community leaders on November 9.
“I want to provide an opportunity for prominent community members to meet with the professors to not only ensure that the forum is a success but to make sure something more meaningful comes out of it with ongoing services,” Mr McDonald said.
He’s proposed a more cohesive, multi-tiered community approach to all forms of mental health.
This could include police, schools, council, service clubs and clinicians.
“I don’t want to shut the door on any option, I want us to consider them all,” he said.
“We want to bring the issue out of the closet so people can talk about it and get the best possible treatment.”
The issue remains close to home for Mr McDonald.
“My eldest son was diagnosed with schizophrenia 25 years ago and I was on a sharp learning curve,” he said.
“The medications then had side affects almost as bad as the condition.”
Revered Rugby League coach Jack Gibson and his wife Judy lost their son to the disease.
They helped Mr McDonald establish the Schizophrenia Research Institute with the proceeds of some books the coaching guru-turned-author auctioned.