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Speaker 1: Grant funding of two hundred and twenty two thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: has been awarded across the territory from East Aarnham, Big Rivers, Barkley,

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Speaker 1: Central Australia and the Top End. Now it is all

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Speaker 1: in an effort to ensure that all territorians can access

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Speaker 1: these important programs. Now, the Minister for Mental Health and

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Speaker 1: Suicide Prevention, Lauren Moss joins me on the line right now.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to your minister.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: Now, Minister, what are these grants going to be going towards?

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Speaker 2: Oh, so, the suicide prevention grants are actually going towards

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Speaker 2: a whole range of different activities right across the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: So there's thirty that have been awarded and they will

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Speaker 2: support things like men's health and well being initiatives run

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Speaker 2: by Rebecca Forest. Has lots of people be very familiar

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Speaker 2: with Rebecca's work. There is a Steps to Awareness event

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Speaker 2: that's being run by the Council of Australian Veterans so,

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Speaker 2: and a lot of like recreation, community connection type activities

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Speaker 2: across the Northern Territory. So the important part about this

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Speaker 2: is they're locally led. They come from the community and

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Speaker 2: they are about making sure we're raising awareness of suicide

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Speaker 2: prevention practices, but also dressing stigma as well around talking

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Speaker 2: about mental health and what we need to do to

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Speaker 2: make sure that we are supporting each other better.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, give us, you know, tell us a little bit

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Speaker 1: more detail about some of these projects.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So there are a whole range of community organizations

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Speaker 2: that are in this space all the time. So for example,

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Speaker 2: our sporting clubs, I know, the Football Federation of the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territories running has a grant and they'll be running

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Speaker 2: some activities as well. Darwin Dragon's Rugby Union Club they

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Speaker 2: will be doing a rugby round and family fun day

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Speaker 2: that's focused on suicide prevention. But ultimately, you know, these

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Speaker 2: are organizations that already have access to, you know, two

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Speaker 2: different aspects of our community. They're already connecting with people

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Speaker 2: and it's a really good opportunity to have conversations that

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Speaker 2: matter about mental health, about looking after yourself, about how

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Speaker 2: we can recognize in other people when we might need

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Speaker 2: to provide some extra help or connect people with services,

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Speaker 2: and what services are out there as well. So I

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Speaker 2: can't commend the organizations enough who put their hand up

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Speaker 2: each year to apply for grants so that they can

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Speaker 2: have these really important conversations because it is everybody's business. Absolutely,

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Speaker 2: we've got high rates of suicide in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: than we do nationally. It's something that impacts on you know,

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Speaker 2: just about everyone in many different ways. You know, I

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Speaker 2: certainly know in my life. You know, it's something that's

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Speaker 2: impacted on myself and people around me. So it really

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Speaker 2: is important that we're all part of those community discussions

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Speaker 2: and so you know that those organizations you'll see those

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Speaker 2: differ events popping up. And if you can support the

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Speaker 2: steps to awareness, if you can support the community conversations

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Speaker 2: that are being had in terms of men's wellness and

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Speaker 2: talking about health and well being, and I know you're

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Speaker 2: involved in our space, Katie, then we should be supporting

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Speaker 2: them as a community.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Now, have the grants awarded in the past

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Speaker 1: helped to reduce suicide rates in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: So look the grants that have been provided in the past,

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Speaker 2: which run across a whole range of different training and

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Speaker 2: training initiatives or community events. You know, it can be

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Speaker 2: very very hard to measure in terms of suicide prevention,

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Speaker 2: and obviously it's something that we do over time. We

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Speaker 2: have an aim in the Northern Territory to reduce the

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Speaker 2: rates of suicide by half, and that will be over

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Speaker 2: the next five years and so will continue to measure that.

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Speaker 2: But I think that it is well known and accepted

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Speaker 2: that the solutions here are going to come from the community.

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Speaker 2: This shouldn't be government led. Government has a really important

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Speaker 2: role to play, and we do that in terms of

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Speaker 2: our mental health support. We do that in terms of

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Speaker 2: getting out these grants. But what we really need is

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Speaker 2: inclusive communities. We need to make sure we're addressing stigma.

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Speaker 2: We need to make sure that we are talking about

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Speaker 2: these issues and the people who do that best are

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Speaker 2: in the community. So, without a doubt, the community organizations

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Speaker 2: that will be running activities over the next you know,

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Speaker 2: over the next little while are making a huge difference

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Speaker 2: in terms of still sup prevention. Absolutely they are.

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Speaker 1: And look, they are fantastic programs and a fantastic way

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Speaker 1: to get that conversation started. I know, Minister that there

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Speaker 1: will be some people listening this morning who are thinking

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Speaker 1: exactly the same thing. These are great measures in you know,

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Speaker 1: to sort of get that conversation going, but do we

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Speaker 1: have enough you know, do we have enough practitioners who

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Speaker 1: are able to help those who do actually need to

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Speaker 1: go in there and speak to somebody, And do we

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Speaker 1: have enough spaces at the hospital. It does get to

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Speaker 1: that really serious end when it comes to mental health

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Speaker 1: and the prevention of suicide.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think those are all really really important

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Speaker 2: questions to ask, and we know we've got a bilateral

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Speaker 2: agreement with the federal government around mental health specifically, there

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Speaker 2: is a fantastic new facility being built at the hospital

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Speaker 2: which will mean that anybody who goes to the hospital

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Speaker 2: in those really high levels of mental distress will be

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Speaker 2: able to be seen in a different area, which is

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Speaker 2: much more appropriate and much better for their outcomes. But

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Speaker 2: our focus, Katie, is really on trying to keep people

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Speaker 2: out of the emergency department, so that is investing in

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Speaker 2: the community. It's also making sure we continue to invest

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Speaker 2: in the corresponder model, which is where we have mental

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Speaker 2: health practitioners clinicians go out with paramedics and police and

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Speaker 2: make sure that we're and that's having a huge impact

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Speaker 2: in terms of making sure that people who who might

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Speaker 2: come to the attention of triple zero for a range

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Speaker 2: of different reasons actually don't end up in the ED

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Speaker 2: and they have much much better outcomes. So, you know,

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Speaker 2: working with the community sector, we're investing there. But you know,

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Speaker 2: I've been an advocate in this space for a very

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Speaker 2: long time, Katie. I think, you know, we can always

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Speaker 2: do more and that's what as a government we're really

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Speaker 2: focused on doing. But we need to do it with

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Speaker 2: the community.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, one of the other areas it has

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Speaker 1: been raised with me, you know, over the past, is

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Speaker 1: whether we've got enough for our youths as well. You know,

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Speaker 1: some of our children that are obviously going through really

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Speaker 1: difficult situations, whether there is access to actually be able

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Speaker 1: to see a counselor or to be able to see

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Speaker 1: a psychologist, if that's what's required. Do you feel as

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Speaker 1: though we've got enough in the territory.

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Speaker 2: So obviously this is very topical. This often was very

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Speaker 2: topical when I had the education portfolio. We need to

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Speaker 2: make sure that psychologists counselors are available for young people

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Speaker 2: across the Northern territory. Schools play a really important part

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Speaker 2: of that, and you know we've made some investments there

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Speaker 2: in terms of trying to make sure we're increasing that

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Speaker 2: team and that we're partnering with other health organizations. Organizations

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Speaker 2: like Headspace do a phenomenal job, you know, And where

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Speaker 2: there are weightlists, I know that that government is working

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Speaker 2: with the community sector about how we can make sure

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Speaker 2: we're reducing those weight lists, how we can make sure

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Speaker 2: that people who do turn up to a service wanting

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Speaker 2: to get help can get that help. So it is

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Speaker 2: a challenge, but it's one that you know, we're all

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Speaker 2: collectively working together, and I think there's been some great

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Speaker 2: in roads made in this area over the last few years.

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Speaker 1: Well, Minister, we appreciate your time this morning. Obviously, Minister

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Speaker 1: for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Laura Moss, thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you