CONGRATULATIONS to Dunsborough’s Sarah Moore and Busselton’s Robert Reekie, who have both been nominated for the 2016 WA Regional Achievement and Community Awards, which will be announced at a Gala Night on October 28.
Dr Moore, who is a procedural GP obstetrician, medical coordinator for the Rural Clinical School and founder of the South West Holistic Health Practitioner Network in Busselton, was nominated for the Horizon Power Leadership and Innovation Award.
Dr Moore has established a network of more than 100 holistic health practitioners who work together to support patients in the South West and has been the driving force behind the inaugural South West Wellness Expo, to be held in October.
She has also created a mindfulness program for medical students at the Rural Clinical School of WA.
Dr Moore said she developed the eight-week program, which features 10 minute teaching videos and five minute guided meditations for students, when she found out there were limited programs in WA that looked at mindfulness and stress reduction.
“We know from data that has been collected on medical students that they are a very high risk group for stress, burnout, depression, anxiety, suicide, so mindfulness is a proven strategy for managing those issues,” she said. “We do such a good job of looking after our patients but sometimes you sort of forget to look after yourself, so I think that sort of model is really important and I think that needs to be really encouraged, certainly from a college level.”
Mr Reekie is in the running for the RAC Volunteering Award Award, thanks to more than 14 years spent establishing Busselton’s Mates Men’s Support Group.
“Back in 2003 when I started it, there was absolutely no facilities for men whatsoever,” he said. “There were no support groups, no help, the services were just non-existent. I had originally started it to help out a couple of guys on my lounge, and because of the lack of services, everything just sky rocketed and within a couple of months we had 30-40 guys on our books.”
Mr Reekie said he was very humbled by the nomination. “I’ve been doing it for so long that it’s just an everyday thing, but the recognition is fantastic. I’d like to get the message out to the community that we are here, we have been hear for 14 years – we provide a lot of services that people are saying that they need in this town, but they would rather reinvent the wheel than support the group that’s actually doing it.” Mates Men’s provide services including emergency housing and counselling to people in need.
For more information visit menssupport.com.au.
