It's been three years since the Black Summer bushfires, but for many the mental impact of the event is only just being realised by residents in the New South Wales South East.
Key points:
- A clinical psychologist says she's observed new presentations of people experiencing trauma from Black Summer
- Nearly 1,000 homes were destroyed in the Bega Valley, Eurobodalla and Snowy Monaro during the 2019–20 bushfires
- The bushfire-affected town of Quaama is still receiving food drops and visits from clinicians three years on
The physical recovery continues in the region, after nearly 1,000 homes were destroyed in the blaze that swept through the Bega Valley, Eurobodalla and Snowy Monaro shires.
Bega Valley and Mallacoota-based clinical psychologist Monica Blayney says the mental toll is lingering, with some locals only just coming to terms with it.
"We are not only getting bushfire effects in people we were already seeing, but we are still getting referrals where people are presenting with psychological issues," she said.
"They're possibly not knowing that it's bushfire related, but when you talk it through, it clearly is."
Ms Blayney has noticed some of her clients have only recently acknowledged the mental toll that the bushfires have had on them.
The clinic she works for is regularly receiving new referrals for those seeking help for bushfire-related mental health issues.
Ms Blayney said there were barriers to receiving help. Not only was it harder to secure an appointment to see a psychologist, but the sessions could be difficult to afford.
"Many psychologists in the Bega Valley can't take new people because we're at capacity," she said.
"We try to prioritise bushfire-affected people … but they're certainly still coming through."
The COVID effect
After the bushfires, counsellors attended evacuation centres and various public settings across the South East to assist with immediate mental trauma.
That support continued in the months that followed, but COVID-19 often hampered face-to-face help.
Ms Blayney believes the pandemic likely drew out the mental recovery process.
"Community engagement is a fairly critical part of recovery from any disaster," she said.
"COVID made people go underground and sit with what they were experiencing alone.
"The more spontaneous, natural engagement was hampered by COVID."
Ms Blayney said Australians were still eligible for 10 standard counselling sessions rebated by Medicare.
The door is open
Outreach services continue to visit the region, with three known clinicians associated with the Southern NSW Local Health District understood to be regularly visiting communities between Batemans Bay to the Victorian border.
The psychologists attend the Quaama community hall as part of their regular rounds, where local resident Veronica Abbott runs a weekly drop-in session for those who need access to donated goods and produce, social activities such as dance fitness classes and art therapy.
She says it's vital more psychologists continue to visit the bushfire-affected regions.
"The doors are open for people when they feel like coming in," she said.
"Outreach needs to continue … and there needs to be more people because this is going to keep going for quite a while."
Ms Abbott says it's only recently that she has realised the toll the bushfires has had with her own mental wellbeing, and is dealing with the impacts of vicarious trauma.
"For me, it's actually been the work that I've been doing that I'm now seeking help," she said.
"People won't realise until there's a trigger that brings it back, and it's the only time you notice you do have some trauma."
Ms Blayney expects the mental triggers from the event will continue to present in the decade to come.
"Many times we will be talking to somebody and they will say 'I went to look up a recipe the other day and I realised it's gone," she said.
"Even if they're lucky to have rebuilt, and many people still haven't, the change is going to have an impact for a long time."