TOUCH.
It's one of the most important of the five senses when it comes to interacting with other people.
And it is also the cornerstone of a new not-for-profit initiative aimed at supporting people living with depression or anxiety, particularly those living in regional Western Australia.
Dusty Roads WA is the brainchild of Bronwyen North, a mother of four whose personal struggles with depression and anxiety initially spawned a Facebook page, Anxiety and Me.
She created the page to reach out to others, no longer wanting to feel alone on her journey.
What developed was an unexpected community of supporters both in WA and around the world, many of whom were facing similar battles.
But for Ms North, it also highlighted that there was a lack of awareness.
The old-school stigma attached to mental health and wellbeing, along with the isolation of living in remote locations, has prevented many people from knowing about support services that are available.
So began her personal mission to help those people and give them an opportunity to be heard and know that they weren't alone.
Ms North started a closed on-line group, aimed at allowing people to reach out without fear of being judged, and seek support and guidance.
But feeling she could do more to help more people, she established Dusty Roads WA, with the aim of raising awareness, breaking the stigma and providing mental health and wellbeing programs to rural and remote areas of WA.
Part of this is through the Farm to Farm initiative, which Ms North hopes will provide a fully qualified counsellor to travel throughout rural areas, stopping at homesteads, shearing sheds, cattle yards and paddocks to engage with the most vulnerable and most in need community members in an environment where they feel comfortable and willing to open up.
Ms North is keen to have that human-to-human contact, rather than work on an online or over-the-phone format.
"When you are chatting with someone online, or talking on the phone, you can basically write or say anything," Ms North said.
"But if you are face to face with someone, and they can put their hand on your shoulder, it changes the way you speak to them and open up.
"It's that human connection that we're designed for, it's part of our chemistry and make-up."
And if anyone would know, Ms North would.
For her bright, bubbly demeanour on the end of the phone belies years of living with depression and anxiety.
She had an idyllic childhood growing up on a farm at Mount Madden in the eastern Wheatbelt with her older sister and younger brother.
But it was here that her battle with depression also appears to have begun, when at the age of 15 she and her father unsuccessfully fought to save the life of a visiting family friends' mother.
"She was a severe asthmatic and her lungs were so thin they literally collapsed," Ms North recalled.
"At the time we didn't know that and so dad and I did CPR on her for 45 minutes until the ambulance got there.
"I had been a part of the SES cadets and you do the typical first aid training, and they tell you that you're going to be able to save a life doing that - and I didn't.
"And being a teenager I just couldn't draw the connection between paper thin lungs and why we couldn't save her.
"Obviously it's different now being an adult, but back then it killed me inside."
The following year Ms North was due to go to boarding school in Perth, but returned home after just one term as she still tried to make sense of her emotions.
When entering adulthood she kept her depression to herself, although her parents could detect when she was feeling down.
But the past five years have produced a lot of emotional challenges, including the passing of Ms North's beloved father in 2014, just three days before her daughter's fourth birthday; closely followed by the loss of her gran and then her pop.
Three years ago she underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy for Cushing's Disease, a condition that can cause a tumour to grow in the pituitary glands, resulting in the adrenal glands overproducing cortisol.
"That was horrible, and I don't ever want to go through that again in my life," Ms North said.
"Depression throughout that was insurmountable."
Then things came to a head in January this year, following her family's first ever holiday.
"My husband Marty has worked fly-in, fly-out for the past 10 years, so holidays were something I had to do on my own with the four kids," she said.
"But not this time- we were all so excited and had an absolutely amazing time."
On their way home to Waroona, they stopped off at Mount Madden to visit her brother, sister-in-law and two nephews, who now run the family farm.
It was here that she experienced the worst panic attack of her life.
"I literally bent over and stood up, felt like I was going to pass out, and then it felt like my heart was going to come straight out of my chest," Ms North said.
"My brother and Marty literally carried me to the car and took me to the Ravensthorpe Hospital, and on the way I thought I must have been having a heart attack and was going to die - it was absolutely terrifying.
"Needless to say it wasn't a heart attack, but the first of many, many panic attacks."
Ms North was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and severe panic disorder, which she found hard to accept because she had no obvious triggers.
"The doctor explained to me it was purely chemical - my brain decided to stop producing serotonin," she said.
Ms North began taking medication, but that took about eight weeks to kick in.
So suffering depression, with no control over anxiety or panic attacks, too scared to drive, struggling to shower herself and feeling alone, isolated and inadequate, she decided to start her Facebook page Anxiety and Me to connect with people.
"I didn't know who would join or how it would go I just wanted connection and I couldn't find it around me in support groups or the like," Ms North said.
She wrote about her experiences in a brutally honest yet self-depreciating way, knowing that a bit of humour and positivity was a coping mechanism.
"I like to deal with my depression and anxiety with as much humour as possible, sometimes it's a bit black, very sarcastic but I need to laugh too," Ms North said.
"And I've been able to connect with some amazing people across the world - they are all truly mental health warriors."
The concept for Dusty Roads WA developed from discussions on the Facebook page, and her closed group, about the lack of physical help for mental health.
It's Farm to Farm initiative is scheduled to roll out in August 2020, with trials starting from the Central Wheatbelt for any farming family that registers.
"What they will receive is visits from a counsellor who will come direct to the farm once a month for 12 months," Ms North said.
Representatives from the group will also travel right throughout WA in 2020, to talk directly with communities about what support they believe they need in their area.
"We don't believe a blanket approach works with mental health," she said.
"Every community has different issues and different needs, so therefor it only makes sense that different programs are going to be needed."
The programs will be created in conjunction with local general practitioners, shires, CRCs and any other local groups that were already running.
Following the trial the success of the program will be evaluated and Ms North hopes that it will be successful enough to be expanded, with more counsellors covering more areas.
She has even undertaken studies to become a qualified social worker, to have a more hands-on role within the organisation.
Ms North said being a not-for-profit group, they were already busily fundraising to prepare for next year's trial program.
They have been visiting regional markets selling products made from recycled coffee bags, such as aprons, place mats and shopping bags, while also spreading the work about Dusty Roads WA.
They were also developing a book called Dark Minds, which was to be a collection of mental health journeys from people across WA and would also be sold to raise funds, along with seeking sponsorship from businesses.
Ms North said above all, she and her team were passionate and dedicated, and knew what isolation did to people with mental illness.
"We know that there is such a lack of physical help, and for a lot of people it's the physical presence and the genuine human touch that is needed," she said.
"And we are going to do our damned best to provide it."
Want to know more: dustyroadswa.org
