Mental Health Umbrella Project Launch
A community arts project has seen local artist Sandy Elverd work with volunteers from St Bede’s Anglican Parish to help disadvantaged people and those living with mental illness stay engaged with the Port Adelaide community.
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4 April 2011
A community arts project has seen local artist Sandy Elverd work with volunteers from St Bede’s Anglican Parish to help disadvantaged people and those living with mental illness stay engaged with the Port Adelaide community.
Sandy, staff and volunteers (including local people living with a mental illness) have designed ten market sized umbrellas to shelter the monthly Semaphore Community Markets and raise awareness of mental health.
Launching the project in Semaphore today, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing (and Member for Port Adelaide) Mark Butler said: “Mental disorders and social isolation are a factor in nearly every Australian community, and centres such as St Bede’s play an important role in helping disadvantaged people to live healthy and successful lives.
“Communities may not always be aware of the non-profit organisations such as St Bede’s Anglican Parish, who are helping marginalised people each and every day to stay connected to their community and to maintain their self-worth and mental health.
“Without these important social connections with people and with our community, mental health can deteriorate to the point where we feel worthless and depressed. So the simple act of helping people mix with each other can do a lot to get people back on track,” Mr Butler said.
St Bede’s Anglican Parish is also home to the Semaphore Drop-In Centre which has provided local people struggling with mental illness, isolation and homelessness with breakfast and supported activities for the past twenty years. The parish also hosts Fred’s Van which provides meals to people on low incomes and the homeless every Sunday.
Further support is on the way, with the Australian Government tripling mental health funding to $1.4 billion over the next three years. This includes a focus on suicide prevention, more support for depression, including post-natal depression, and more services for children focused on tackling mental illnesses as soon as they arise.
The Government will have more to say on mental health in the coming months.
For more information contact Mr Butler’s office on 02 6277 7280
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