This month the @ The Coalface $500 Community Gift goes to a mental health organisation aiming to give access to mental health services to anyone who needs it, ideally at no cost.
M-Brace was started in Newcastle by ProCare CEO Alex Sovechles who wanted to expand the mental health offering they had for the community.
“We started out as the Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance in the early 2000s providing free counselling services to men and their families impacted by a prostate cancer diagnosis. Over time we brought in psychologists and psychiatrists to operate as a private mental health practice which then became ProCare.
“When you get that diagnosis news you go into a bit of a spin. You’re not sure what the next steps are, your family might have questions, we can help you with all of that and more.
“So, since then we have been offering free counselling services not just to prostate cancer survivors but to anyone we can. ProCare has a very forward thinking and committed board, and our clinical lead, Dr Martin Cohen is an innovative force in the mental health landscape.
“Now we want to see how we can make it free for absolutely anyone.
“A big part of my job is looking for initiatives and ways to expand what we do. We have dozens of clinicians working from psychology to counselling and psychiatry and we do thousands and thousands of sessions each year. We have that charity status so we can raise funding to make sure that more people can receive the mental health help that they need,” Alex explained.
That’s where M-Brace comes in.
The initiative launched in February to do two things: raise funding through the sale of bracelets and secondly use that funding to provide mental health assistance to as many people as possible, filling the gap that can’t be filled by Medicare.
“We want to raise funds, but we also want to break down that stigma surrounding mental health because half of us at some point in our lives will experience poor mental health and the scarier part is over 50 per cent of us won’t seek treatment.
“The bracelet also sparks a conversation. It lets people know you are open to having a conversation and you’re an ally. It’s also a reminder to yourself that it’s okay to talk.
“It’s a real grassroots approach to getting people to have those conversations.”
To boost the profile of M-Brace, part of the campaign has been engaging with people of a higher profile and getting them to share their stories. A-League club the Newcastle Jets jumped on board from the start, and now M-Brace is partnering with ‘Few for Shoe’ to spread the message even further.
“I think a shift will happen in time and we will start looking at mental health the same way we look at physical health. If you look back at the last 100 years the idea of going to the gym was once upon a time completely outlandish but now the majority of us go and are open and engaged about it.
“Help starts with a conversation. Going for a jog or lifting some weights is the equivalent of having a conversation about mental health. It’s a way to literally exercise the inner demons from us because if you don’t they metastasize and turn into a disease,” Alex said.
| To find out more on M-Brace head to: https://m-brace.org.au/ If you’d like to reach out to Alex directly to get involved: alex@procare.org.au |
