Mental Health Advocate Community Services Breakfast
“I just had this thought, you know, what do people do on the weekends, people with mental health concerns, or any people who are homeless for that matter, to try and get them a hobby, maybe to help them understand how the motor vehicle runs, because if they do have one, they can fix it themselves.” “So started that, I think was about 2016 or 2017 and the concept was just to get people to come in, I'll get a car donated. I now have a couple of cars donated and other ways to get around the cars myself. I had about 40 years of experience under my belt not qualified, but you know, I can do things like pull motors out and gearboxes out and rebuild a motor. So I've been operating there for the past four years most Saturdays and Sundays and I feel various groups of people come through there's some days we just play around and probably spend my pub money or my going out money or my movie money on the parts and equipment, but I enjoy it as well. I've got a fella who does some spray painting. He has mental health concerns. He spray painted a car once. I forgot to put the hardener in the paint. So we took the paint off. We painted it again. But it didn't match the other colour of the car. So it was three times. Certainly we just gave up on that $1,000 worth of paint later. But hey, it's about building self esteem. There are so many avenues out there to source help these days, you just need to be aware of where to turn; a good starting point could be;
• The Health Service Navigator; funded by the Primary Health Network , phone 1300 012 710
• Queensland Community Support Service, access point; phone 1800 600 300
• Lifeline 13 11 14 Thank you Jon Crisp for your commitment. Top to bottom: TRC Mayor Paul Antonio, Teen Challenge Colin Ryan and MC Kim Stokes
WhatsUp in Disability
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