Care at a crossroads

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann

Leading Senior Constable Bromley Llewellyn's wife is a believer that people come together for a reason.

And the Latrobe Highway Patrol officer might just have to agree after a chance meeting with a young man experiencing mental health troubles saw him use the knowledge gained from his 25-year Victoria Police career and own battle with personal trauma to help make a difference.

In June this year, Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn and his shift partner were patrolling in Traralgon one evening when they pulled into a McDonald’s car park for a quick coffee.

Jack Reid, a 22-year-old from Paynesville was also in the car park for a break, pacing back and forth because negative thoughts had been weighing on him during a long drive home from Melbourne.

“I usually have a few methods to keep the impulsive thoughts at bay, but at this particular time they got away from me,” Mr Reid said.

“I was thinking, ‘Jack, you’re in over your head here. It would nice if someone could chuck you a lifeline’.”

When Mr Reid saw Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn park his highway patrol car, he remembered how his late father, a Country Fire Authority volunteer, often spoke of the mental health support and training that firefighters and police get.

“I saw Bromley, and he’s a big, intimidating looking man, but I thought I’d ask for help anyway,” Mr Reid said.

"It was one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made."

Mr Reid explained to Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn that he wasn’t travelling well.

“I thought he meant physically, but then he explained he was on his way home from Melbourne and didn’t think he could get all the way home because he had some thoughts in his head,” Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn said.

“That’s when I thought, ‘Nah, this is something more serious’.

“I asked him if he smoked, he said yes and I said, ‘Light up a dart and we’ll have a chat’.

"It was just as simple as one bloke talking to another."

Jack Reid found the listening skills of Ldg Sen Const Bromley Llewellyn to be hugely helpful during a chance meeting they had one evening when Mr Reid was struggling with his mental health.

Mr Reid said Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn made him feel comfortable to share his mental health issues and troubling thoughts.

“I’ve had a lot of people over the years try to help me and talk to me when I’m in certain states of mind, and there have only been a couple who I have really, really been helped by,” Mr Reid said.

“Bromley was one of them.

“It was the way he genuinely listened, asked me questions and the fact that he wasn’t judging me. There was also the calm way he pulled me up on some of my irrational thoughts.

"It was like he was ‘Uncle Bromley’ to me in that moment and it made my thoughts seem a lot smaller and easier to maintain."

Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn said his training at Victoria Police in helping people during mental illness episodes came to the fore.

“The most important thing for me was just to shut up and let him talk,” he said.

“I guess 25 years as a police officer also teaches you a lot, because more than half our job is people skills.”

“I remember going through the Academy and at some seminars over the years where mental health professionals would say, ‘Don’t buy into any of their irrational thoughts, but do listen’.

Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn arranged for a mental health practitioner from a nearby town to come out and see Mr Reid, and the police officer stayed with him until they arrived.

Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn also contacted Mr Reid’s mum Carmel Reid to put her mind at ease that night and has even kept in contact with her and Mr Reid since.

Of all the people and of all the police officers Mr Reid could have asked for help, Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn seemed the perfect man for the job as he has also walked the path of mental health struggles himself.

Two years ago, Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn was responding to a report of a woman hit in her own driveway by a car allegedly driven by her ex-partner, who had left the scene of the incident.

As he neared the scene, Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn realised it was the home of a mother of two who he had known for many years.

“I ran up the driveway and I’m confronted with the image of my good friend in a horrible way,” Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn said.

"When I became aware she had died, I just unglued, I totally came apart."

Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn took time off work but the traumatic incident plagued him and he started drinking too much.

“I got back to work, but I could see I was spiralling out of control and on a path of self-destruction, so I went away and got some help,” he said.

Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn has not touched a drop of alcohol since and says he is a “completely different person” to the one following his friend’s death.

“Jack saw the good Bromley that night in the car park,” Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn said.

“I saw some similarities in the things Jack was dealing with, so later I sent him a book that helped me cope with what I was going through.

"We can’t solve all the problems of the world, but there are a lot of Jacks out there who we can have a helpful interaction with, however big or small."

Mr Reid said he wanted everyone to know how thankful he was for Ldg Sen Const Llewellyn and for people like his mother who care for people experiencing mental illness.

“I don’t think there’s a word in the dictionary that can express how much gratitude, respect and thankfulness that I have for what Bromley did for me,” Mr Reid said.

“With all the stuff going on in the world, it’s easy to forget that there are these kinds of people out there.

“They are the people who give you hope for humanity.”

For 24/7 crisis support or suicide prevention services, please call Lifeline 13 11 14. If life is in danger call Triple Zero (000). Current and former Victoria Police employees and their families can also access wellbeing services via bluespacewellbeing.com.au.