“ It’ll Be Alright in the Long Run” Roadshow EVALUATION REPORT Background John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew In March 2011, the Centre for Rural & Remote John Schumann, ex leader of the legendary Australian folk-rock band Redgum and the singer- Mental Health Queensland (now known as the songwriter responsible for the Vietnam veterans anthem “I Was Only 19”, has a long track record Australasian Centre for Rural & Remote Mental of working in the mental health and trauma recovery area. As well as his well known advocacy on Health) was approached by the communities behalf of veterans suffering from PTSD, John has worked with survivors of the Victorian bushfires. of Condamine, Dalby, Chinchilla, Goodna, Together, with some members of his band, John conducted a series of events, including after-dinner Toowoomba, Pittsworth, Millmerran, Roma, talks, musical performances, music and song-writing workshops and men’s getaways. These events Rockhampton, Miles and Nanango to assist were very popular, well attended and are considered to be some of the most effective trauma-recovery them in recovery from the impacts of the drought exercises undertaken in the bushfire-affected regions of Victoria. and the floods. Having provided mental health In 2009 and 2010, John was engaged by the Australian Defence Force’s Central Health Directorate to prevention and early interventions prior to this help write and produce a DVD for soldiers with PTSD. Called “Dents in the Soul”, the DVD has been flooding event, the Centre was ideally placed to spectacularly successful and is seen as one of the most effective interventions in this fraught area. assist these communities as existing staff and linkages were already in place. A feature of John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew’s performances is the rapport that John builds with the audience. Support, understanding and the destigmatisation of mental ill health are The Centre responded with a plan to partner subtly woven into the stories, song introductions and amusing banter which are a hallmark of his with John Schumann (ex Redgum leader and performances. Strong anecdotal evidence is that people at risk in the audiences are far more likely to writer of “I Was Only 19”) and his six piece band, seek out information and/or help. the Vagabond Crew, to tour a roadshow through flooded-affected communities in late May. Each “date” was to comprise a morale-building concert and the delivery of mental health early Fast Forward intervention information and referrals in the Notwithstanding the Government’s lack of funding support for the original proposal, support and context of a community event. enthusiasm for the idea remained. The events were to provide a respite from the In September 2011, the Australasian Centre for Rural & Remote Mental Health (ACRRMH) was invited drought/flood traumas, along with specialised to attend the Annual General Meeting of Clifton Landcare. recovery support and information tailored for rural people and their communities about A community event to deliver some positive messages to the Clifton community about social and existing local psycho-social supports. emotional wellbeing was canvassed. Several ideas were put forward including a performance by John Schumann (ex Redgum) and his best mate Hugh McDonald (also ex Redgum) in the “seated and A detailed proposal was prepared and submitted unplugged” format that ACRRMH had previously used was proposed as a real option for the one-off to Government for funding support. Clifton event. The proposal was unsuccessful. (ACRRMH had previously engaged John and his mate, Hugh McDonald, to perform as part of mental health awareness-raising programmes in the mining and resource sectors in rural and remote Queensland and Western Australia.) After approximate costs, potential benefits, risks and community suitability were discussed, Clifton Landcare decided that a concert event with John and Hugh, based on the Centre’s original proposal, would provide the most benefit and represented the best value for community money. Clifton Landcare provided the seed funding of about half of the estimated cost to get the project of the ground. Other communities heard of the event during the planning process and expressed interest in holding a similar event. As this interest grew St George, Tara, Dalby, the South Burnett and the Lockyer Valley all emerged as possible locations for the event. By this stage the single event of Clifton had developed into a mini-tour. During community consultations, the community’s enthusiasm for the event became apparent and with the expected attendance in some centres exceeding 300, the decision was made to bring John and the whole six piece band, the Vagabond Crew (which included Hugh). 2 The Events Attendances The Roadshow was envisaged as a series of free Feedback from attendees was extremely positive Table 1: Attendance figures for all locations events aimed at a broad cross-section of each and gratifying. Where attendances were not as community. Each event was to include a BBQ, high as anticipated, it appears that promotion Location Community Service face painters and jumping castles for the children was limited and not disseminated throughout the Attendees Providers as well as lucky door prizes and giveaways. Free community. In some cases, there was a lack of Kingaroy 620 14 buses were also to be provided to bring people understanding of the exact nature of the events. Tara 220 7 in from neighbouring communities. Attendance figures of community members and In December 2011, for a number of reasons, local service providers is contained in Table 1 Dalby 145 5 St George and the Lockyer Valley communities (right). These figures are a reasonably accurate decided to wait until Mental Health Week 2012 estimate of attendance and it should be noted Clifton 240 4 to host the event. that a number of people came and went during TOTAL 1225 30 Planning for the Roadshow, by now entitled the course of the event. “It’ll Be Alright in the Long Run”, was consolidated around the communities of the South Burnett (Kingaroy) South Burnett (16 February), Tara (17 February), South Burnett (Kingaroy) was the best attended of the four locations due to three key factors: Dalby (18 February) and Clifton (19 February) • The event in Kingaroy was most effectively advertised with a poster in the front window of 2012. most shops in town • The steering committee was already established and consisted of service-oriented people Objectives from the local communities • The communities of the South Burnett have been hit exceptionally hard in recent times by The objectives of the Roadshow were clear droughts, floods, the impacts of mining and market fluctuations. That said, they have not and defined. Each event would provide flood- necessarily enjoyed the same level of support as other regions. affected communities with access to a wide variety of information to assist with their long- Tara term recovery through a relaxed, informal forum Notwithstanding that the funeral of a very respected local man was held on the same day, the Tara and a good time. Each event was designed to: event attracted the highest attendance rate per capita of all the locations. It was made clear to • provide a respite from the exhausting us that had the funeral not taken place, and so many people not been physically and emotionally and debilitating work of flood recovery drained, the attendance would have been even higher. The number of service providers who travelled and rebuilding to town was encouraging. We received many comments like “Thank you so much, please come back” and “Please do this again next year”. • enhance and build community linkages • raise awareness of and destigmatise Dalby mental health challenges in non-threatening, Dalby is an “interesting” community with a reputation for not supporting community events. The accessible and even enjoyable ways Roadshow event was no different. For the size of the community, it must be said that the attendance • build courage and optimism through was disappointing. The promotion in Dalby was not as extensive as in the other three locations shared experience and we were advised that the sorghum harvesting limited the attendance by some local farmers. • develop and disseminate relevant, trusted However, those who did attend certainly enjoyed the night and believed that it was very worthwhile. and useful recovery information. Clifton The Clifton event was held in the early afternoon on the Sunday of the local show. The marquee originally erected was small and the day was very hot. The crowd grew exponentially once the concert got underway to the point when temporary shade shelters were being continually erected as the concert proceeded. Anecdotal evidence is that the ‘letter drop’ had a positive effect on the numbers. The $750 RSVP prize went to a worthy person to the gratification of the community. 3 Community based support and advertising The community’s need for and recognition of the There were also many other community A comprehensive and widespread advertising benefits derived from events like the Roadshow organisations and service providers who campaign included: was evident in the support that was readily contributed by way of in-kind support. This was • ACRRMH media release (Appendix A) offered and freely given at relatively short notice in the form of stalls showcasing services and • newspaper articles (Appendix B to H) from community organisations. products, providing the BBQ, selling drinks, as • local magazine adverts (Appendix I) The following organisations provided financial well as assisting with organisational support • letterbox flyer (Appendix J) assistance combining to a total of $87,043. prior to, during and after the event. The following Their support was sincerely appreciated by all is a list of the in-kind contributors. Again their • posters (Appendix K) those involved and without it the event would support was critical to the success of the • My Community Connect Roadshow.