Answering the community’s call 

Qualified social worker Sasha Wood has held various roles within family counselling across her career. She has worked in youth counselling, school counselling and family violence; she has run support groups; she has held roles in intensive family support services and intensive therapeutic clinical support; and as of this year, she is providing support to children aged 12 and under in the communities of Cann River and Mallacoota as part of the Flying Doctor Wellbeing team. 

“Across Victoria, this is the first 12 and under professional mental health service provided by the Royal Flying Doctor Service,” explains Sasha. “I'm the first person to ever do this work with the service, and so the first family I was referred to in Cann River was the very first family to ever work with a wellbeing service provided by the Flying Doctor [in Victoria].  

“I remember when I told that family that we were pioneers, the kids were so stoked. They felt so proud!” 

While her current role is quite groundbreaking, it is not the first time she’s worked in East Gippsland – in fact, this is the third time she’s moved to the region. Originally from NSW, Sasha’s career has taken her to Newcastle and Mackay, but it’s the bush and beaches of East Gippsland that truly feel like home. 

“I found myself continually coming back,” says Sasha. “I just fell in love with this country. It’s very special.” 

When Sasha commenced work in this region back in March, there were no consistently available face-to-face mental health services for kids. However, owing to the Black Summer bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, community need for dedicated support was undeniable.  

“It was felt that there was support in the communities for adults, but the kids’ voices and needs were getting a little lost,” explains Sasha. 

When the community came together to advocate for support for children 12 and under, RFDS Victoria was well placed to answer the community’s call for help: the organisation was already operating wellbeing services in the area – including its Flying Doctor Wellbeing service and its dedicated Bushfire Recovery Counselling and Support service – and so had already established strong relationships in the community. And according to Sasha, it was this existing trust that was instrumental in the community choosing to invite RFDS Victoria to address this service gap. 

“RFDS has done a really amazing job here,” says Sasha, noting that the community has respected the fact that the Flying Doctor Wellbeing crew has been able to provide continuity of care. “It's been the same crew servicing the community. [For example], Robyn [Smith, a mental health clinician with the Bushfire Recovery Counselling and Support service] arrived here just after the Black Summer bushfires, and she's still here. This consistency means that Robyn is able to build up that trust and momentum in the community.”  

This commitment to continuity of care has become an important feature of this new child mental health service as well. Sasha is able to visit more than once a month and so can become invested in the area, and could therefore assure parents that their child would receive continuity of care. 

“I've heard from a few families that because of the consistency and frequency with which I’ve been able to see their child, they’ve seen some real results at home,” says Sasha. 

The service works by Sasha engaging with the community as a whole to identify children in need of wellbeing support. “The service is child-centered, but works on a family-based model. So everything I do is with the child, but I also work with their families, whether that’s parents, caregivers, nans, foster parents or aunties.” Sasha also works closely with the local educational and childcare systems, including teachers, principals and welfare officers, to seek referrals for children in primary school and below. 

Over the past six months, this service has been whole-heartedly embraced, not just by parents and caregivers, but by the entire community. As Sasha notes, the local Bush Nursing Centres have been very supportive in letting her utilise a room for her sessions, and the school system has helped to engage students and ensure they are able to attend their appointments. 

Perhaps most importantly though, the children themselves now feel heard and supported.  

“Anxiety is something we're noticing a lot in the kids, because of the fires, COVID and the changing nature of our world,” says Sasha. “And for some of the kids I'm working with, this might be the first time ever they've sat with a professional and really worked through what these last few years have been for them.”  

Professional support can be a strong means to building back up strength and resilience in children and families, and as Sasha notes, even prior to COVID and the bushfires, there were many factors impacting the mental health of children living rurally and remotely. As such, with support being hard to access in some of these regions, the ongoing need for this service is palpable.