New centre to grow local crisis support

LOCALLY provided mental health support services have been boosted in the Bendigo region with the official opening of Lifeline Central Victoria and Mallee’s new training centre.

With the smell of fresh paint still lingering, the newly renovated Hargreaves Street space has replaced the 25-year-old former Queen Street offices.

Chair of the Lifeline CVM board, Jan Boynton, said the upgrade would allow for an additional 30 volunteers to be trained as Lifeline crisis supporters on the 13 11 14 hotline each year.

“What we have now is… a clean, new centre in a central location that is fit for our purpose now and into the future,” she said.

“The office design provides a great training room and that will assist us to grow our impact across the broader community of the region.

“The centre also enables us to deliver domestic violence awareness, suicide prevention and mental health first aid training to the broader community.”

Nationally, Lifeline saw a 35 per cent increase in calls in the last year compared to pre pandemic times, with calls in Victoria growing by 52 per cent.

At the local branch, 64 volunteers gave over 4500 hours of their time to almost 11,300 calls last year.

Renovations to the new centre were funded through a $10,000 Federal Government Stronger Communities grant and $4800 volunteer grant, and local member Lisa Chesters said the change was needed.

“Having been at the old Queen Street premises and walking through, [it was] dated, challenging, [and an] occupational health and safety risk,” she said.

A local committee determined which priority projects got the Stronger Communities funding, and Ms Chesters said Lifeline CVM’s new facility scored top of the list.

“When people read the brief, they understood the need to make sure that our volunteers and Lifeline staff have a safe, inclusive and modern workspace,” she said.

“Lifeline has been a key part of our mental health system for quite some time and will continue to be so.”