The unsung heroes in our community, dedicated to helping others, tend to fly under the radar, and happily so.
Dr Marilyn June Anderson, of Cessnock, was one of them ... until she won a 2024 Australian Mental Health Prize for her outstanding contributions to the promotion, prevention or treatment of mental illness.
The group training manager for Lifeline Direct has been named this year's "Community Hero" at an awards ceremony in Sydney.
Dr Anderson is a lifelong advocate for mental health and crisis intervention and has dedicated more than 25 years to Lifeline, 12 of those in Newcastle with Lifeline Hunter.
She has, to date, trained more than 40,000 individuals in suicide prevention and crisis intervention - including frontline workers, volunteers and community members - in areas such as suicide prevention, mental health, domestic violence, grief and loss.
Through her work, Dr Anderson hopes to make Lifeline a cornerstone of mental health support, especially in rural and regional areas where such services are often limited. She says she is "driven by the power of community" and the need for people to have the tools to support each other in times of crisis.
She views her role as "a calling, not just a career".
"I had about 10 careers before Lifeline. I was very much a mature-age student, I got three degrees and finished my academic journey when I was 60," she told the Newcastle Herald.
"I was a student at James Cook University for 20 years - I think I set a record [laughs] - but all the while, behind the scenes, I was chip-chip-chipping away at my Lifeline career ... working towards something more meaningful than my previous careers."
Dr Anderson received Lifeline Crisis Support Line training, through Lifeline, in order to work with, and eventually manage, the Telephone Crisis Unit before going on to train others.
"It was always secret squirrel business, that training," she said.
"Nobody even knew where we went for training, it was that private, and it wasn't available to the public or frontline workers.
"When I got the job at Lifeline in Newcastle in 2012, that was my remit to take that training, or some version of that training, in bite-sized pieces to the front line ... to community organisations and volunteers who were working in front-facing positions who had crises happening right in front of them, not anonymously, but one on one."
Under her leadership, Lifeline has established training services in the Hunter Valley, Central Coast and New England regions, as well as remote areas in Victoria and Alice Springs.
"This is grass-roots-level stuff," she said.
"It gets in your blood and gives you an immense amount of satisfaction that you are doing something worthwhile."
The other 2024 Australian Mental Health Prize winners are Professor Juli Coffin (Broome, Western Australia), Dr Louise Byrne (Barlows Hill, Queensland) and Professor Michael Berk (Geelong, Victoria).
"The dedication of this year's winners highlights the power of personal experience, cultural security and scientific innovation in mental health," Australian Mental Health Prize Advisory Group co-chair Professor Allan Fels said.
"Their work offers hope and tangible support to countless Australians."
Mental illnesses are common and highly disabling. In any given year, one in five adult Australians and one in seven children aged four to 17 will experience some form of mental illness. One in three Australians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime. Mental illness significantly impacts a person's ability to work, earn a living, and maintain close relationships.
For details about the Australian Mental Health Prize, visit australianmentalhealthprize.org.au.
