As businesses began adapting to the way of life Covid-19 was shaping, many Lifeline centres, including our Orange centre, were faced with dilemma. It’s with thanks to an incredible gesture from Newcrest Mining Cadia Valley Operations that will see crisis support workers return to their pivotal roles.

CEO Lifeline Central West, Stephanie Robinson explained, “Crisis Supporter numbers sharply decreased due to restrictions around social distancing and fears around volunteer safety in centres, many were not set up to accommodate legislated requirements and volunteers were falling into high risk categories. Add to this, the sharp increase in calls and it could have been what I call a second wave of the disaster with serious concerns for people’s mental health and well-being. Never before in Lifeline’s 57-year history had there been such a demand for our services.

“Many people have felt destabilised and as a result are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, fearful and many are anxious. Duty of Care and to both our Crisis Supporters and help-seekers meant that we had to make significant adjustments to the way we operated.”

As the Orange Lifeline Centre operates solely on corporate and community support/fundraising, it was thanks to a partnership with Newcrest Mining Cadia Valley operations (COVID-19 Community Support Fund) that Lifeline Orange developed a way to provide extra measures in supporting everyone’s health and safety, by purchasing individual telephony headsets as well as having strict health and hygiene regulations.

Did you know it actually costs around $4,000 to train a volunteer? Cadia were also involved in subsidising Lifeline’s ‘Fast Track program’ which will cover part of the training costs and in turn will see volunteer’s numbers increase. This has attracted 33 new Crisis supporters to the team.

The training program will use a combination of online learning methods and is expected to take four weeks instead of 14.

“We looked at what we could do as a matter of urgency for both now and the future as we know the aftermath of the pandemic will cause substantial impacts for the unforeseeable future. We also know the challenges of drought and other economic challenges. Lifeline Central West is committed supporting our community on that road to recovery.”

Cadia Manager for Health, Safety, Environment & Social Responsibility, Merrilyn Tinsley said, “I feel quite humbled when I hear about the behind the scenes and what goes on here at Lifeline Orange, I didn’t realise the extent they go to in helping the community on the ground as well. When that application came through for assistance, it felt so right for us to do our bit. We are a part of the community and it could be our people that need the assistance.

“Lifeline provides a vital service to the community and we are pleased to support the ongoing work of the volunteers to continue meeting the increasing demand for Lifeline’s services.”

Stephanie added, “We cannot thank Cadia enough, they have been very encouraging from the beginning. I am never disappointed in our community and their support as they know that in turn we will be there to support them in their times of need.”

Lifeline 13 11 14

As part of Lifeline’s 13 11 14 National Crisis Line which operates 24/7 the team were taking, at the end of 2019 just over 2200 calls per day. The bushfire crisis saw a steady incline in calls and in the past month they have seen calls escalate to an extra 1000 calls a day, with the team now answering a call every 30 seconds, that’s 3200 a day as the impacts of COVID -19 pandemic escalated.