QUALIFIED Psychotherapist/Counsellor Kerri Lawler is conducting research into the isolation, relationship difficulties and access to support for wives and families of remote workers.
Lawler says that she met many interesting and wonderful people while traveling between remote areas across the Northern Territory and Western Australia. But says another side to this professional nomadic existence is a progressive awakening to the need for people in remote areas to talk and share their stories.
Lawler has identified the loneliness, the heart-break at recurring departures when their partners left to go back to work, the shifting between being ‘a couple’ one week then ‘being single’ the next, coping as an intermittent single parent and periodic questioning of the values of marriage at a distance, understandably takes its toll on relationships.
The researcher claims those at home struggled with issues of trust, loneliness and for some, a sense of abandonment and for those unable to detach the sense of loss and abandonment had the potential to cause severe anxiety and depression.
While those who worked away often experienced things differently although most still missed their partners and family back home. The spillover of emotions from one partner’s distress onto the other over time has the potential to cause the worker to experience increased levels of stress, sadness and anxiety.
Lawler says that while not everyone experiences the negative effects, the vast majority appears to have encountered them to varying degrees, at some time throughout their remote work/life-style.Lawler says counselling was provided to women and men who were left behind, and women and men who worked away. But she said not all people could access the service. Accessing an on line counselling service from the convenience of their home was to prove an ideal solution for people in these situations.
Lawler has established a website to meet this important need. Please see www.counsellingaustraliaonline.com
As yet, most companies and employees do not know that this service is available. Its main focus however is to provide support for those people engaged at all levels of employment across geographically remote locations in the Mining and Oil & Gas Industries. That does not exclude clientele from commercial fishing, long-haul trucking and scientific expeditions who have also utilised the service.
This research has positive implications for workers and their families and the organisations responsible for the wellbeing of those they employ. Provision of services, family friendly policies and greater regard for the issues which inevitably arise at the home/work interface could be greatly improved.
Additionally, the potential for enhanced work place relations, retention rates and importantly reduced incidences of injury and illness can all be made possible through better understanding the need to implement services which can assist and support the mental health of remote workers.
For participation in the research project look for details in an upcoming edition of Safe Mining.
Kerri Lawler’s qualifications include: Bachelor of Social Work, Accredited Mental Health Professional, Grad dip. Child Psychotherapy, Master Psychoanalytic Studies. PhD Candidate - Deakin University (School of Psychology)
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