Help­ing health work­ers feel set­tled in rur­al and remote loca­tions with plans to stay long-term is a triple-win sit­u­a­tion, accord­ing to Maria-Chris­tine, also known as MC.

“We real­ly should have the best pro­fes­sion­als out there,” she says. ​“And it’s a real bonus if they want to stay for some time. If the health pro­fes­sion­als are hap­py in the com­mu­ni­ty and feel sup­port­ed, the peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ty not only get top qual­i­ty care but con­ti­nu­ity of care.”

And to be part of that process through the Bush Sup­port Line, help­ing callers with their issues, big and small, is the third ​‘win’ that MC feels per­son­al­ly. ​“The gen­uine peo­ple: you want them to hang around.”

The Line offers free 24/7, 365-day tele­phone sup­port to Australia’s cur­rent and emerg­ing rur­al and remote health work­force and their families.

It’s hard for peo­ple who have not expe­ri­enced life in remote areas to appre­ci­ate how dif­fer­ent it can be to big town and city life, which is why the Bush Sup­port Line hires peo­ple who have rur­al, remote, and cross-cul­tur­al expertise.

MC lived in remote areas of WA for a num­ber of years, specif­i­cal­ly in Kununur­ra and Wilu­na on the edge of the West­ern Desert, and also in Rock­hamp­ton in Queensland.

“One dif­fer­ence is uncer­tain­ty,” says MC. ​“Let’s say the uncer­tain­ty is caused by the weath­er, such as flood­ing roads, which then means a lack of fuel and food. For a first-timer in a remote com­mu­ni­ty, uncer­tain­ties can be scary. They may pan­ic. That’s where the Bush Sup­port Line can help them work through these sit­u­a­tions, and know that life may be hard, but these prob­lems are not per­ma­nent. It is going to pass and you have some con­trol, maybe not of the weath­er, for exam­ple, but you know how to cope.

“Resilience is an impor­tant attribute in remote loca­tions, and you don’t know just how much until you are there.”

Work­place issues, per­son­al issues and com­mu­ni­ty issues are the three mat­ters that MC con­sid­ers to be the most com­mon sit­u­a­tions that callers want to discuss.

“It’s not always a dra­mat­ic inci­dent,” she points out. ​“It could be some­one who is try­ing to make a deci­sion and needs some­one to talk to about it.

“Covid def­i­nite­ly opened up the use of tele­health, online and phone ser­vices, mak­ing the Bush Sup­port Line clear­ly a viable and worth­while ser­vice that is both acces­si­ble and inviting.”

This job, for MC, who start­ed at CRANAplus in Feb­ru­ary 2024, taps into her love of study­ing, learn­ing and teaching.

As well as being one of the pro­fes­sion­als on the oth­er end of the Bush Sup­port Line, MC also enjoys being part of the edu­ca­tion team: this includes writ­ing for Mind­ful Mon­day, run­ning online well­be­ing work­shops and review­ing the online resources avail­able to health workers.

“I do like to be able to help pro­vide peo­ple with sta­bil­i­ty with­in them­selves,” says MC.

“With the well­be­ing work­shops, self-care is the bread and but­ter of what we teach.

“You can’t last if you don’t look after your­self and recog­nise the signs of stress.”

A good psy­chol­o­gist, she believes, is some­one who is real­ly ground­ed and down to earth, who works on them­selves too, and recog­nis­es they are not the expert of oth­er people’s needs.

“I believe we are the experts of our­selves and a good psy­chol­o­gist is one who helps peo­ple access that infor­ma­tion and explore the tools to help themselves.”

MC grew up in Mel­bourne and realised ear­ly in life that she want­ed to study psy­chol­o­gy. Liv­ing over­seas for a few years, main­ly in Ire­land, she worked with chil­dren in schools with spe­cial needs, young peo­ple at risk, and child protection.

“In Ire­land, I was giv­en the advice to get back into com­plet­ing my stud­ies with a post­grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate. Since then I have con­tin­ued the learn­ing process and I’m par­tic­u­lar­ly inter­est­ed in explor­ing the ben­e­fits of ther­a­pies that tap into trau­ma in all its forms.

“Trau­ma mem­o­ries don’t get processed as much or as eas­i­ly as oth­er mem­o­ries,” says MC. ​“Those trau­mas can be car­ried through our life unless they are processed – for exam­ple, learn­ing at an ear­ly age not to trust – and I am very inter­est­ed in ther­a­pies that can assist with this.”