Yarning with the Flying Doctor mob: Willowra
To the remote NT community of Willowra... the Flying Doctor Mob is there to have a yarn about wellbeing.
“What do you think if I talk to that Flying Doctor mob? Do you think you’d be okay to have yarn with them?”
These are the words of Hannah Case, a school counsellor who lives and works full-time in the Aboriginal community of Willowra in the Central Desert, where she has been the sole mental health practitioner for several years.
Historically, remote communities like Willowra, located on Warlpiri Country more than 400 kilometres north of Alice Springs, have had little to no access to mental health outreach services.
“Willowra has anywhere between 400 to 500 people based out here and our average numbers at the school are about 30 students a day,” Ms Case said.
“Willowra has a strong sense of community because it’s quite small, but it’s also really isolated and we don’t have access to a lot of services out here, particularly around mental health for young people.
As a silent mental health crisis continues its deepening hold in the remote heartlands of Australia, the RFDS is trying to stop it in its tracks.
Every week, the RFDS Mental Health & Wellbeing team out of Alice Springs hits the road to visit Central Desert communities, offering one-on-one support, running group activities and spreading awareness in aims to tackle the unfolding mental health crisis.
Today, the Flying Doctor team visits Willowra regularly, staying in community for days at a time.
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