SOCIAL isolation as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns continues to impact people across the region according to the head of the Ararat Suicide Prevention Network.<\/p>\n
Linda Nyikos said her group was working behind the scenes to identify and help people facing isolation.<\/p>\n
The group has recently secured use the old Girl Guides building next to Alexandra Hall to run social evenings for isolated residents.<\/p>\n
Ms Nyikos said the aim is to hold regular gatherings in a friendly, relaxed setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully once a fortnight we will have a drop-in evening where people can come along and hopefully ease the social isolation many have experienced which COVID has not been good for. There were people suffering social isolation before COVID but the pandemic has made it worse for many,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a relaxed place, somewhere where people can come and chat, play a board game, do some colouring or knitting, just a place where people can come together,\u201d Ms Nyikos said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d also like to hear ideas from people, let us know what they\u2019d like to see us do,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll provide tea and coffee and some biscuits but people might like to bring their own meal or order a pizza. If we can get some funding, we\u2019ll look at providing food,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Nyikos said the mental health of many residents has suffered because of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cCOVID has compounded social isolation and I know local psychologists in town, their bookings are just full, their books are full and that makes it really hard,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mr Nyikos said there is a small group of volunteers involved with the Ararat Suicide Prevention Network, however new people are needed to ensure services can continue.<\/p>\n
Anyone needing assistance or people wanting to volunteer can contact Ms Nyikos through the Ararat Suicide Prevention Network Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SOCIAL isolation as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns continues to impact people across the region according to the head of the Ararat Suicide Prevention Network. Linda Nyikos said her group was working behind the scenes to identify and help people facing isolation. The group has recently secured use the old Girl Guides building next to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-5x","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}