On what Japanese

THEEND OF THE ROAD

At best, The South East Junction is at the crossroads – at worst, it is the end of the road.

At the forefront of mental health in the Limestone Coast for more than a decade, The South East Junction, Mental Health Activities and Resource Centre Inc will determine its future at a September 27 meeting.

Nel Jans has been not just the face of The Junction services, she has been a jack of all trades, keeping the vital mental health organisation going courtesy of her countless hours of volunteer work in the face of a lack of significant financial support.

Along with running the many and varied programs provided by The Junction, Nel has prepared more grant applications than she would care to remember, as she looked to keep being part of the mental health and wellbeing space in the region.

“Through obtaining funding grants and donations from local government and other organisations and service clubs as well as businesses, the Junction has been able to organise activities for people with mental health challenges and improving mental wellbeing of the general public,” Nel said. “As well as provide subsidised Mental Health First Aid Courses in the South East, thereby increasing the understanding of mental health and reducing the stigma associated with compromised mental health.”

Nel has decided to call time on her herculean efforts with The Junction, and combined with other mitigating circumstances, including impacts from COVID 19, after 13 years of mental health service to the communities in the Limestone Coast, the South East Junction has made the difficult decision to put forward a motion of dissolution at the September 27 meeting.

Despite the gloomy outlook, programs and services are still running, Lifeboat SE has started the process of becoming Incorporated and the Millicent Mental Wellbeing Group will be integrated in Skylight’s Country Wellness Connections program, along with some other exciting developments in the works to ensure mental health and wellbeing do not end up forgotten if The Junction does, indeed, close its doors.

Lifestyle1 takes a look back at Nel Jans and her work through The Junction and the impact it has had in the Limestone Coast community.

NEL JANS

It was back in 2015 that Nel Jans was awarded the Community Leader Award at the Limestone Coast Women in Business and Regional Development Influential Women in Business Awards. It could have also been called the Behind the Scenes Award because it was for someone who flies under the radar and just gets the job done, tackling a community issue and doing everything in their power to make life better for people doing it tough and Nel fitted the bill perfectly and not surprisingly, to anyone else, she took out the honour.

“I was very surprised. I am also very proud of the work over the past five years at The Junction to be acknowledged,” Nel said, in the wake of securing the 2015 honour.

Nel was, and still is, the volunteer who runs the mental health outreach centre in Mount Gambier and if the 2015 award again opened up the conversation about mental health issues in this region, then she was happy to spend an uncomfortable few minutes in the spotlight.

Nel has valiantly fought for funding and resources, an ongoing battle, and has fought even harder and longer for people with mental health issues. “It has definitely got better,” she said. “But there is still a stigma attached and people still feel shame.”

Nel’s message is there is nothing to feel ashamed about and that one in five people during their lifetime will battle some form of mental health issue.

It was in 2008 that Country Health SA started to up the ante in the fight to identify and treat mental health issues but it was an almost overwhelming battle. “It was too much for them to get a good go at it,” Nel said. That saw the One Voice Network contracted to set up a mental health activity and resource centres in rural areas to try and take the load off the mainstream health system. Nel became the coordinator of that initiative in Mount Gambier.

Hailing from the Netherlands, Nel has a background in nursing and social work and has been working in the mental health area for more than four decades. “There are more and more people with mental health issues but no one wants to work in the area so where do these people end up?” Nel said. When she was growing up, the career choices were simple. “You could be either a teacher or a nurse or a doctor,” she said. “A doctor took too long and takes too much study so I thought ‘let’s start with nursing’.”

Nel’s interest in mental health nursing grew out of coming from a family where she had a front row seat to those issues, including depression and suicide. “My heart has always been in mental health issues,” she said. “And people make it worse by not talking about it.” That’s why Nel goes to services clubs, schools and local councils to talk about what The Junction – Mount Gambier’s mental health activity and resource centre – offers.

The Junction has always relied heavily on grants and donations from service clubs, other community organisations and businesses and that’s just to keep the services and programs running. All the centre staff are volunteers.

Aside from health living programs, there is also plenty of educational aspects to the services offered by The Junction, with mental health professionals often visiting the centre to help people understand their issues and work through them. “We wanted to be a learning centre, not a drop in centre.”

They have also worked closely with other local mental health groups to ensure there was a collaborative and cooperative approach to the issues. “I don’t believe in repeating what services are doing – that doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “We have to all work together.” Nel was also very much about asking the clients what they want. “It’s not my centre – it’s theirs,” she said. “Everybody has potential and we want to help them see that. We teach them how to deal with their mental health issues better. We help them find their strengths.”

And for some people, that don’t have family support locally, The Junction is their family. “Feeling accepted and not feeling judged – it’s so important.”

ABOVE: Nel Jans at work. RIGHT: Nel Jans & Bronnie Liebhardt