Three Queenstown counsellors have combined to provide a clinical perspective on current discussions on rising mental health concerns in the community. Sarah Deering, Elizabeth Denton and Sonia Voldseth have 31 years’ combined local counselling experience, and believe the region’s collective mental health will continue to decline if individuals’ challenging life circumstances aren’t addressed
As a collective of counsellors, we have become increasingly aware the distress our clients experience arises largely from their living circumstances.
For over a century, since Freud first started ‘talk therapy’, we have worked within a framework that examines the internal world of the client.
But when we turn our attention to the conditions in which our clients live, we see they are hardly conducive to good health, even for the most robust of them.
We cannot therapise or medicate folk out of poverty, a housing crisis, discrimination or the constraints imposed on them by players within the capitalist system who are more interested in profit than people.
Some of the issues we high light are already well known, however the cumulative impact of the stressors is what often goes unseen.
The housing crisis
The current competition for housing is a major stressor for many of our clients.
Having shelter is universally recognised as a basic human right, but right now it’s not being met.
The housing crisis means many people find themselves going backwards.
When partners who have children together split up, it can result in financial hardship for both.
Inequities in childcare arrangements can cause stress and resentment.
Very often, family support systems reside outside of Queenstown, but childcare arrangements often prevent a parent from relocating.
Often, separated parents stay living together due to their inability to afford two separate homes — this only adds to an already-volatile situation.
If you happen to have children, a pet or some other attribute that might invite discrimination, such as not speaking English fluently, you are
severely disadvantaged when seeking housing of any kind.
The toll this takes on their mental health is dire.
Domestic violence
For parents and children who are in a household with domestic violence, the stress of needing to move with nowhere to go is terrifying.
There is no safe house or refuge in Queenstown that can offer temporary accommodation and the intensive support required.
Bullying
There are examples all over Queenstown of good operators who treat employees well.
Unfortunately, there are also many examples of those who fail to respect the humanity of their workforce: resentment and declining mental health are predictable outcomes.
Burnout
The current economic environment asks people to keep producing under conditions that don’t support adequate rest and time to live.
Employers, managers, contractors and business owners are suffering from extensive burnout.
Depending on the length of time and severity of burnout, it can take months and even years to heal the damage done, and in some cases the effects may not be reversible.
Isolation
It takes a lot of courage to reach out to make new friends, something we all have to do, living in Queenstown — we all know how dispirited we become when our friends leave town.
As counsellors, we hear time and time again our clients are isolated, and seclusion begets seclusion.
It might be helpful if businesses could organise social events to assist people to connect more easily with co-workers.
They could provide a local network/resource pack to new employees who have recently moved to the area, and perhaps designate one employee as a wellbeing liaison person who can check in on colleagues and staff.
Cost of living
Our tourism and hospitality workers are trying to live on the minimum wage, which currently stands at $22.70 an hour.
Some employers are paying $25 to $35, in accordance with the higher cost of living, but in this climate it’s not nearly enough.
Community
Our town has lost some of the community it once had.
Thirty years ago, it was common for motorists to stop for tourists crossing the road.
There is a lot of care for each other in terms of community/volunteers/philanthropy, but it’s not enough.
We need this addressed at a larger societal and political level.
Conclusion
We ask ourselves how our clients find themselves distressed and seeking help.
Is there something deficient in the individual’s psychological make-up, or is the person in front of us having a normal human reaction to the multiple challenging circumstances in which they find themselves?
We think it is in large part the latter.
