POLICE are appealing for public assistance to help locate missing Yarrawonga woman Abby, who they believe may be in the Broadford area.
The 44-year-old was last seen at her home in Yarrawonga on Wednesday, 9 February at about 9.30pm.
Police and family have concerns for Abby due to a medical condition.
Police have released an image of Abby and urge anyone with information on her whereabouts to contact the Yarrawonga Police Station on (03) 5744 3641.
A classical concert at a property near Broadford on February 19 will feature the unique coupling of the saxophone and harpsichord, led by a classical saxophonist who recently emigrated to Australia from The Netherlands.
Organiser Peter Hagen said while saxophone was not traditionally coupled with harpsichord and baroque music, the combination highlighted the expressiveness of saxophone, and how well it fitted in with the baroque style associated with more traditional wind instruments such as oboe or flute.
“Under Niels Bijl’s musical mastery the more subtle capabilities of the saxophone emerge like you have not heard before,” he said.
Mr Bijl said a life filled with music was a life filled with sharing, collaborating, creating and inspiring next generations.
“It gives me tremendous joy being able to share the stage with a variety of musicians from so many different backgrounds, such as classical music, jazz, early music, or even folk- and rock music,” he said.
“Whether it is working with composers to bring their music to life, creating workshops for amateur musicians or children, organising concerts at unexpected places or far away regions: I embrace the fact that every week seems to be completely different, and every event fills me with inspiration and new ideas.”
The concert will begin at 5pm at Mr Hagen’s property 10 minutes from Broadford – known to many for the high quality musical performances he presents.
The program includes music of Handel, Vivaldi, De Fesch, Sammartini and Telemann, all famous composers of the 18th century.
On the back of a vibrant and successful career in Europe, Mr Bijl has embraced a new life as a performing artist, chamber musician, collaborator, project organiser and lecturer in Australia since January 2020.
Following his graduation, Mr Bijl became a member of the world renowned Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, one of the world’s leading saxophone quartets.
With the quartet, he recorded several CDs, including a recording of Johan Sebastian Bach’s entire Art of Fugue, for which the ensemble was awarded a nomination for the Dutch Emmy (Edison award).
Both as a soloist and a member of his quartet, Mr Bijl has toured the world for the past 20 years, giving concerts and masterclasses on nearly every continent.
Mr Bijl also started the Baritone Institute Australia, a collective for all of Australia’s baritone saxophonists, with a program that is currently touring country Victoria offering a series of coaching and masterclasses.
“For Niels it’s all about the music, in all forms. The versatility of his instrument, the saxophone, and an unending amount of positive energy enables him to bring music to life, and he will do his utmost to contribute to an already lively and inspiring Australian arts scene,” Mr Hagen said.
or call Mr Hagen on 5784 3884 or email peter@peterhagen.com.au.
Councillor Christine Banks has resigned from Mitchell Shire Council due to personal and health reasons.
Ms Banks joined the council at the general council election at the end of 2020.
She has been actively involved in many projects including the Mitchell 2050 Vision and the ongoing advocacy against the proposed quarry in Beveridge/Wallan.
The resignation is effective immediately and creates a vacancy in the south ward.
The Victorian Electoral Commission will hold a countback.
Ms Banks said she had enjoyed her time with the council and the opportunity to represent her community and be involved with so many projects.
“Thank you to the many community members who chose me as their representative. It’s been an honour to serve as a councillor, but I am unable to commit the time to effectively carry out this important role, so I believe it is in the community’s best interests if I step aside,” she said.
“I would like to wish my fellow Councillors well and thank staff for their support. Mitchell Shire has a great future ahead and I am pleased to have been able to play a part in shaping that on behalf of the community.”
Mayor Bill Chisholm thanked Ms Banks for her time serving the Mitchell community and for her contribution during her time as a councillor.
“I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to work with her and I wish her and her family all the best for the future,” she said.
MORE than 20 Country Fire Authority, CFA, vehicles fought a fire on the Hume Freeway at Broadford for several hours last night after a truck ignited, spilling oil across the road.
The CFA was notified of a trailer fire on the Hume Freeway at 11.11pm, and upon arrival crews found a truck ablaze, reporting ‘a large amount of oil’ on the road, with the fire having spread to the grass as well.
Broadford residents reported hearing audible explosions not long after 11pm.
Twenty-three CFA vehicles attended the scene including tankers and support crews, with additional support from Fire Rescue Victoria, FRV, and State Emergency Service, SES.
Crews fought for hours to contain the blaze, and the scene was declared under control at 3.40am.
The Hume Freeway was closed to traffic in both directions for several hours.
A Department of Transport spokesperson said the freeway was closed northbound just after 11.30pm, with detours via the Northern Highway.
The right-hand lane was opened northbound at 6.20am this morning, but the left-hand lane remains closed as the clean-up continues. There are currently delays of up to 20 minutes northbound on the Hume Freeway from the Broadford exit.
Real-time traffic conditions are available at traffic.vicroads.vic.gov.au or via the VicTraffic mobile app. The latest public transport information and network status is available at ptv.vic.gov.au or in the PTV mobile app.
A CFA spokesperson said the cause of the fire had not been determined.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said there were no reported injuries.
There is a wide range of services and support available to people in the Mitchell Shire and surrounding areas. Below is a list of options – but often a good starting point is a GP referral:
Urgent/ emergency
Emergency services, for ambulance and police – call triple zero
Goulburn Valley Health, for Mitchell Shire residents aged 16-64 who require crisis support for mental health – call 1300 369 005
Lifeline, a national charity providing 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention for all Australians – call 13 11 14; text 0477 131 114; visit www.lifeline.org.au.
Suicide Call Back Service, a nationwide service counselling to people affected by suicide – call 1300 659 467; visit www.suicidecallbackservice.org,au.
Severe/episodic
Goulburn Valley Health, provides range of services and community care for people suffering from, or at risk of, serious mental health problems requiring short and long-term treatment and support. Goulburn Valley Health Area Mental Health Service covers the municipalities of Mitchell and Murrdindindi. Accepts self-referrals, encorages referrals from GP or counsellor. Call Seymour office 5735 0500 or Shepparton 5832 1260 during business hours, or crisis line 1300 369 005 (24 hours).
APMHA Healthcare, provides intake, triage, secondary consultation and clinical and psychological services, for people with severe mental illnesses. .
Wellways, the National Psychosocial Support Measure is a community-based mental health support for people aged over 18 in Mitchell and Murrindindi shires, experiencing mental health issues. Call 1300 111 400, visit www.wellways.org/our-services/your-health-and-wellbeing.
Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation provides early intervention mental health services for 12-25 year olds. Shepparton office, call 5823 8800 or email headspace@gvhealth.org.au; Craigieburn, call 8338 0919 or email headspacecraigieburn@orygen.org.au.
Mild/moderate
APMHA Healthcare, had a range of free short-term face-to-face or telehealth psychological services. A GP Mental Health Treatment Plan is required. Services available include for low need and moderate need clients; bushfire counselling services, and older minds mental health program for residential aged care facilities. .
Nexus Primary Health, offers a counselling team made of psychologists, mental health occupational therapists and mental health social workers and general counsellors. Call 1300 773 352, visit www.nexusprimaryhealth.org.au/our-services/counselling-services.
Kilmore District Health, has a social worker offering counselling, support and information to patients, residents and family in Kilmore and surrounding area. Call 5734 2164 or visit www.kilmoredistricthealth.org.au/allied-health.
Seymour Health, a social worker services Seymour and surrounding areas. Call 5793 6100.
Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative, services include mental health nursing, psychology and psychiatry, in Shepparton. Call 5820 0035, visit www.rumballara.org.au/health-wellbeing.
The Bridge Youth Service, located in Wallan, Seymour and Shepparton. Free support services for young people with an intake worker available to discuss eligibility. Other programs include adolescent support, youth homelessness, pregnancy and parenting, early intervention – alcohol and drugs, education support. Call 5799 1298, email shepparton@thebridge.org.au or visit www.thebridge.org.au.
Carer support
Carer getaway, phone or in-person support such as coaching, counselling, peer support, information and advice. Call 1800 422 737 or visit www.carergetaway.gov.au.
CALD/asylum seekers/refugees
Cabrini Outreach, a range of health service for people seeking asylum or newly-arrived refugees. Call 9380 7874.
Primary Care Connect, refugee trauma counsellors available. Free service. Call 5823 3200 or email intake@primarycareconnect.com.au.
Keeping well
Prevention United, provides information and strategies for people, parents, caregivers and organisational and community leaders. .
VicHealth, Be Healthy blog provides information on health eating, physical activity, mental wellbeing and reducing harm from alcohol and tobacco. .
Smiling Mind, a tool to help bring balance to your life, 10 minutes a day, free app. Visit www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app.
National services
Health to Health, visit www.headtohealth.gov.au.
Beyond Blue, 1300 22 46 36 or www.beyondblue.org.au.
Eating Disorders Victoria, 1300 55 02 36, or www.eatingdisorders.org.au.
The Butterfly Foundation, 1800 33 46 73, www.butterfly.org.au.
MensLine Australia, 1300 78 99 78, www.mensline.org.au.
QLife, 1800 184 527, www.qlife.org.au.
Kids Helpline, 1800 55 1800, www.kidshelpline.com.au.
Reach Out, www.au.reachout.com.
Suicide Victoria, 1300 651 251, www.suicide.org.au.
Head to Help, 1800 595 212, www.headtohelp.org.au.
Mind Spot, 1800 614 434, www.mindsport.org.au.
eMHprac, www.emhprac.org.au.
SANE Australia, 1800 187 263, www.sane.org.
Australian Community Support Organisation, 1300 375 330, www.acso.org.au/aod-mh-support.
By Colin MacGillivray
MITCHELL Shire health and social support groups are banding together to address a broad array of mental health issues as the community grapples with the ongoing fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Goulburn Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee – which comprises more than 20 health, social outreach and council groups – was founded two years ago with the aim of improving access to services through collaboration and connectivity.
Lower Hume Primary Care Partnership interim executive officer Lee Coller said services across the region were dealing with increased demand while struggling to attract staff to work in regional and rural areas.
Ms Coller said the findings of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, which were released last year, would provide a good long-term basis for reshaping the delivery of mental health support, but said the committee was focused on providing immediate access for people most in need.
“The demand for services is high. It’s really complex, and the government keeps throwing money at it and expecting services to grow, but one of the biggest issues is that the workforce doesn’t exist,” she said.
“One of the mental health services is looking for nine positions in Shepparton and they’ve only been able to fill one. Where are those other eight going to come from?
“In the education sector there’s vacancies in all these support services, including mental health, for regional areas. You can’t say you’re going to create 10 more jobs in those areas, because there are already vacancies that are unfilled.
“You can’t just get a psychologist out of thin air.”
Nexus Primary Health chief executive Amanda Mullins said requests for mental health support and related issues were up across the board.
“Calls and requests for assistance to our service are increasing, but the acuity or seriousness of those calls is also increasing,” she said.
“We’re seeing increased demand on our dietetics services for eating disorders, we’re seeing an increase in counselling for people who are generally fatigued and need support for everyday life, and we’re also seeing an increase in the acuity of family violence cases and calls for the protection of children.
“We’re seeing it through every element of the work that we do, which is frightening.”
Ms Mullins said Nexus staff were struggling with pandemic-related fatigue.
“The workforce is reduced for various reasons. We have a hard enough time recruiting into key clinical support roles anyway, but because they are fatigued it’s impacting our wait times and our ability to deliver services,” she said.
“Normally at this time of the year people would come back from leave and have renewed energy to hit the ground running, but our staff are tired and they’re off or have kids away from school.
“We’re already seeing the impact of COVID in schools, so in some cases you’re back to the home schooling that we know had serious impacts last year.”
The Bridge Youth Service chief executive Melinda Lawley agreed home schooling during the pandemic had been an issue for many young people, but that returning to the classroom was also confronting.
“We’ve seen an increase in anxiety in young people in two ways,” she said.
“They’re very anxious about whether they’re going to be able to achieve the goals they’ve set themselves, especially around the end of school. They’re very disrupted because of that. We also support a lot of young people with anxiety about going back to school.
“Some young people who were disengaged from school actually found schooling from home wonderful, because the anxiety was about being at school and maybe being bullied or feeling like they had fallen behind in their work, not keeping up, or something else.”
Ms Lawley said in some cases young people were less likely to seek mental health support.
She said government funding for The Bridge to provide a fortnightly psychologist clinic had been demonstrably beneficial.
“Prior to this funding we were not classified as a mental health service, but we are responding to mental health issues,” she said.
“Young people often don’t want to contact a mental health service because they not aware that there is anything is wrong with them.
“The first thing we’d like to see is that funding for mental health doesn’t just sit in mental health services. We’ve benefitted from that and we’ve seen the benefits for young people.
“We’ve found with young people under 25, if they’ve engaged with a service you’re much better upping the support those services can provide than asking them to go and see another service.”
Ms Mullins agreed that a collaborative approach to mental health support was key.
“I think we need to continue to work as partners to make sure we support the community as health services,” she said.
“We want to encourage that idea that there’s no wrong door. If somebody comes to us and we can’t provide services, we want to be able to reach out to other health services to ensure they get appropriate care.”
Family-support service FamilyCare’s chief executive Angela Armstrong said her organisation was another that favoured a collaborative approach.
“We can’t do this in isolation, so the more we can get collective services around families that need support, the better,” she said.
“We run a mother-baby day stay program in partnership with [Kilmore District Health]. That predominantly deals with mums who have post-natal depression. We’ve seen an increase in mums presenting with early signs of depression after having babies.
“That’s another example of where working in partnership helps and can support the community.”
Ms Coller said while times were challenging for support services and the general population alike, groups were taking positive steps to address the issues.
“The Goulburn Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee, are doing their best,” she said.
“We met with [Federal Member for Indi] Helen Haines last week trying to get a few things together.
“The [committee] has been going for two years now and our ultimate goal is … no matter where you end up, that you get directed into the right place and people can move easily between the services.”
HUDSON Park’s All Ages Tour show is set to kick off this Saturday, with musicians and young people working together to bring live music to Kilmore.
The tour is hosted by The Push, a Melbourne-based charity aimed at bringing safe and accessible music shows to communities and giving young people an opportunity to get involved in something they are passionate about.
The Push chief executive Kate Duncan said the tour, comprised of 18 events across Victoria, would be a great opportunity for performers and communities to get together following the difficulties of the past two years.
“What we’ve seen is that there have been some disproportionate effects on young people because of COVID,” she said.
“It’s obviously difficult to live life the same [way] as we used to and because of the bad impact of the pandemic, we couldn’t run the tour as we wanted to.
“Young people want to get involved in the music industry and we hope the 2022 tour makes up for the last two years.”
Ms Duncan said organising the 2022 tour has been a challenge.
“I think the tour organisation this year has been a bit like a Rubik’s cube, we change one event in one place and then problems come up for another place,” she said.
“We hope that what we’re able to put on will stimulate the performance sector and help get everyone behind the scenes back involved with everything.”
The tour, which started last Friday in Swan Hill, was originally planned to start in October 2021 but has been postponed twice due to COVID-19 restrictions.
In order to keep the tour going in 2022, measures such as hand sanitising, QR code check-in and social distancing where possible will be enforced. Unfortunately, there will be no mosh pit or crowd surfing as there has been in previous years.
Ms Duncan said the involvement of people from each of the towns the tour visited was key to its success.
“Because of COVID we’ve tried coordinating with local groups and councils to make sure we can stay safe in a way that works best for them,” she said.
“Local young people are also important because we can give them the opportunity to be involved in something close to them.”
For more information and to buy free tickets, visit thepush.com.au.
A NEW journey for the state’s youngest school students began last week as foundation, or prep, students put their school uniforms on and headed into classrooms for the first time.
There were many mixed reports of the children feeling excited, happy, anxious and sad about the early wake up calls to prepare for the school day, but overall, have begun settling into school.
Foundation students across the Mitchell Shire will transition into a five-day school week, with many of the schools opting for the students to initially have Wednesday off as the students settle into their new routines.
Foundation teacher at Wandong Primary School Chloe Cole said new students had embraced their first week of school.
“Last week, Wandong Primary School welcomed their youngest learners into foundation for 2022. The cohort of 82 students were eagerly greeted by their teachers Mrs Cole, Miss Clyde, Miss Green and Miss McCulloch,” she said.
“Students met their senior school buddies who assisted in providing a helping hand when adjusting to school life. New friendships have formed, and the development of independence and resilience is well underway for these foundation students.
“We look forward to the year ahead and celebrating all your achievements in 2022.”
