Headspace Wants Your Help

Townsville,” she said.

“What IGA gives us is more than enough. It’s been excellent to have that backing, and the service itself [welfare] is becoming more popular over time. With the cost-of-living crisis, it’s necessary.”

Whitsunday Foodbank – which moved into a new location on Proserpine’s Main Street earlier this year – expressed how ecstatic they were to be receiving the ongoing donations alongside their regular Foodbank Queensland supply.

“We have such an amazing community,” a Whitsunday Foodbank Proserpine spokesperson said.

Headspace Whitsundays is recruiting young people passionate about mental health and well-being to join its Youth Reference Group (YRG) and have their say in the community.

The confidential health service centre plans to give local youth the opportunity to input on headspace’s strategic direction through being a “voice of young people” in the Whitsundays.

Headspace, a national Youth Mental Health Foundation-run organisation, provides early intervention mental health services to young Australians each year, helping thousands of young people access services like counselling in 140 communities across Australia.

The volunteer role in the Youth Reference Group is for 14–25-year-olds and involves getting to influence the direction of headspace within the Whitsundays, meeting and working with other young, passionate mental health advocates, and developing personal and professional skills.

The Whitsunday centre provides free, confidential health services with a key focus on mental health, alcohol and other drugs, education and employment support and physical and sexual health.

As YRG members, local young people provide crucial information to headspaces across the country, keeping the sites relevant to the 12–25-year-olds it services.

YRG members will be involved in regular meetings with the centres and help make decisions on things such as community engagement, communications and health promotion.

Across the country, there is also the opportunity to act as a National YRG member, where participants can be a spokespeople for the organisation and lead local projects.

Training will be provided and for more information or to apply, contact headspace Whitsundays at 07 4842 6760 or Whitsundayheadspace@nwrh.com.au

Drought Master

A Swaggies breakfast / A smoke and look around

Your hat slouches / Over your weather-beaten brow

You’ve worked hard for this / Bearing up / Under a thousand scorching suns.

You never came undone / Or did you? / It still journeys through you

Your dreaming / Buried beneath / The leathered lines

Of your face / Deep listening / You hear it coming

You close your eyes / The storm coming / Worry lines forming

Third eye open / You stand your ground / On edge

Of breath-taking stillness / You breathe in / You stand in

The eye / Then comes the howling / Shearing / Screaming

Chaotic / Spin of the wind!

Birds / Caught in your hair / Hold tightly / As you circle the earth

Detaching / Unearthing / Air-birthing

Lightning strikes / Fear in your eyes / The bushfire

Raging / You, mad bull / Turning / In the ring

You, thundering / Resisting / The pull / To leave

Then it breaks! / The sky breaks! / Your dusty tears flowing

You fall to the ground / You, knee deep in joy! / You, hold yourself still

You kiss the sky /Lodestone to Mother Earth / You won’t leave her

Cracked crease / Etched deep / In your memory / Drought Master

By Helen Waratah Cohen

Readers’ poetry can be emailed to declan@mackayandwhitsundaylife.com Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments.