Help lines 'miss the boat' for depressed

He and his volunteer staff have just returned from the Muttaburra area where they estimate more than 20 per cent of properties have a family member in need of psychological help.

“A lot of people are in receivership, their minds are a quandary and they need to talk.

“They may not be suicidal but they are certainly depressed.”

Mr Egan said people in these situations were not being helped either by services based on the coast who sent staff out to the regions at intervals, or by having offices in outback centres.

“That’s a complete waste of time – farmers will not go to these places because of embarrassment.

“That is how they were brought up to be – self-sufficient and self-reliant.”

He was also critical of helplines set up to take calls, saying they were “missing the boat”.

“You’ve got to go out and look them in the eyes,” he said.

He had been told that people who did ring in some cases were treated with a lack of empathy and made to feel inadequate.

“They say to me that people wished them well and then they never heard from them again, or that they felt like a loser.”

Based on these experiences, they are unlikely to try to access that sort of support again, he said.

Mr Egan would like to see money directed into programs such as the one he has initiated with the help of global health and wellbeing service provider Optum, to undertake selection and training for a peer support program, triage services and onsite and telephone and video counselling.

“Aussie Helpers isn’t asking for any money – we see ourselves as doing the groundwork and finding people in need,” he added.

“We thought handing out hay and goods was our way of helping with mental health issues, but we see now that it’s got to go further.”

He intends on gathering further representative samples in communities to be visited in coming days to bolster his case in Canberra, where he hopes to meet with Health Minister Peter Dutton.