Community & Business
4 February, 2026
Community-based care a region first
AFTER more than a year in development, and staying true to its small-town accessibility objectives, a national trial for support services targeting the early signs of stress will be officially launched this month in Dimbulah and Ravenshoe.
Distress Brief Support (DBS) is part of the Federal Government’s National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Strategy, aimed at addressing poor mental health and rising incidents of suicide in regional and rural communities.
The trial was announced in October 2024, with the Tablelands/Mareeba region one of only two sites selected in Queensland.
While the official DBS launch will be on 11 February, the project has been up and running since September last year.
Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN), which is supporting the program, said the community-based outreach service had two important elements.
One was a short-term service providing practical support for distressed community members for up to three weeks. The service will be run by the Mareeba Community Centre (MCC).
The second was a community engagement network, made up of volunteers from neighbourhood centres, small businesses, sporting and other social groups, and even council members, which has been contracted to Beacon Strategies consultancy.
Beacon Strategies CEP coordinator Schania Czygan said last week she had been developing a network of so-called “community engagement points” (CEPs) and would be rolling out training and workshops in the coming weeks.
Ms Czygan said the response had been “absolutely amazing” as she has “drilled down into the community” to find the ideal CEPs.
“My role is to identify safe people and places where people gather, talk and may share their problems,” she said.
“They could be the local hairdresser, stock and feed agents, a coffee shop ... wherever people go to have a chat, feel safe and relaxed enough to open up.”
As well as meeting and greeting, explaining the project, and getting to know the community, Ms Czygan, was also developing training sessions for CEPs on how to provide helpful, gentle conversation when they recognise someone showing early stages of mental distress.
“It could be financial, it could be health, it could just be a chat about not feeling right. The CEP can then offer to call the MCC, and have someone come and talk,” she said.
“There’s no papers signed, no bookings, just a simple phone call. And the MCC team come and triage that person within 48 hours, at the place from where they made contact, or wherever they feel safe.”
Ms Czygan acknowledged dealing with mental distress was sometimes difficult because of the reputation of regional communities as being “very resilient”.
“Or feel they should be. And they are a proud bunch, sometimes too proud seek help.”
This system of support was less intrusive - more an easing down of the barriers rather than breaking them.
It was also devised by major consultation with those it is designed for.
An NQPHN team spent more than a year speaking with more than 360 community members, community groups, and service providers. The research also used online and face-to-face consultation sessions in public locations like shopping centres.
They travelled more than 1,250km, visiting Mareeba and Atherton, Mt Garnet, Dimbulah, Herberton, Millaa Millaa, Malanda, Ravenshoe, Kuranda, and Yungaburra, and engaged with First Nations community members and service providers through Kuranda Social Justice Group, MAMU Aboriginal Corporation, Mulungu Aboriginal Corporation, and Ngoombi Community Services Indigenous Corporation.
The fruits of this research, and the design of an innovative community-based care service, will be launched and celebrated on 11 February at Dimbulah, at the Crew House, between 10am-11am, and again in Ravenshoe at the RSL, from 2pm-3pm.
