Marilyn's own crisis led her to life-saving work: 'I reached out for help'

Dr Marilyn June Anderson's first encounter with a mental health support service was through a women's crisis centre after the breakdown of her marriage.

"I was moving through a marriage breakdown so I reached out for help through that centre which was wonderful, very supportive," Dr Anderson tells 9honey.

"It was through this connection that I was introduced to Lifeline."

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She decided to complete the training to work at Lifeline's centre in Cairns. By then she was a single mother of two young children and had returned to university.

"I'd done my training to go on the crisis line in Cairns," she tells 9honey. In what she describes as a "sliding door" moment she had left for the day but was having car trouble.

While she waited for the mechanic to arrive, she took her first crisis call for Lifeline.

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Her career background had been working in human resources in London. Marilyn would eventually return to Australia when she reached out for crisis support and began her work fielding calls for the crisis support service, eventually taking over the roster for the centre.

Dr Anderson now has three degrees, a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Sociology and a doctorate in which she investigated the lump sum baby bonus government payment, harbinger to a national paid parental scheme.

Her career in crisis support continued to build. She considers it her "vocation" and learned how to care for herself as she navigated her important work.

For the past 12 years, Dr Anderson has headed up a training operation based in Newcastle NSW that has enabled over 40,000 community gatekeepers to become skilled in suicide prevention and crisis intervention, complementing Lifeline's mental health support at the pointy end of service delivery, especially in rural and regional communities.

She was recently awarded a 2024 Australian Mental Health Prize, the prestigious Community Hero award, acknowledging her work to ensure frontline workers and volunteers have the right training and support for, as she says, "when tough stuff happens!"

"People helping others need an extra set of skills. When I began this community work in 2012, such a skillset was fairly much the domain of those answering Lifeline's crisis line, how to talk with somebody about a mental health dilemma, how to recognise it, how to hear that somebody might be thinking about suicide, how to listen to tough stuff comfortably and help that person make some decisions," she explains.

"l helped make a model, which we now call Social Enterprise, to raise money to go back into the running of the Lifeline crisis service 13 11 14."

Dr Anderson says anyone can help Australians in crisis with the right training.

"Most people don't know how to listen well," she says. "One of our core courses, Accident Counsellor Foundations, comes from Lifeline training.

"Last year we delivered 60 of those across my geographic delivery footprint. And so we're passing skills and the knowledge of how to listen well."

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She adds that active listening doesn't mean solving the problem, it's about empathy.

When it comes to the mental health crisis in Australia, Dr Anderson points to vulnerable groups, in particular young Australians.

Her advice to parents is to access training in their area via their local Lifeline Centre website.

"A lot of parents, particularly parents, are a bit scared about this, that their child is or might not ever be suicidal. So why would I need that training?"

She reminds parents the training isn't just for their children, but it could be to support a child's friend, a neighbour, their own friend or even a coworker.

"That training is invaluable, it's available nationally and Mental Health First Aid is one that we deliver regularly and that helps participants recognise the various mental health conditions that they may come across when they're talking with somebody," she says.

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue or in the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).

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