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Bayside Initiatives Group calls for

community support after $100,000 funding
cut
By Stacey Whitlock
SW Updated May 21 2019 - 8:31AM, first published May 20 2019 - 4:00PM

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BIG: Members of Bayside Initiatives Group outside their old premises at Capalaba.

A MENTAL health organisation will close its Capalaba premises

next month and is at risk of drastically reducing its services due to
funding cuts.

Bayside Initiatives Group Inc. - Queensland's first entirely peer-

operated mental health service - has lost more than $100,000 per
year in funding, impacting their ability to continue to help up to
1000 people a year.

The organisation may get a lifeline from the Redland City Council
which is set to decide on Wednesday whether to lease a building at
Winter Memorial Park, Capalaba.

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BIG co-ordinator Samuel Walker said the use of the community

building would reduce pressure on the organisation but additional
fundraising was still required.

Run entirely by volunteers and sta! with a lived experience of

mental ill health, BIG - which has operated in the Redlands for
nearly two decades - provides a drop-in service for people
struggling with their mental health.

Read more: Capalaba mental health service has BIG dreams

Read more: Locals recognised in Queensland Mental Health Week

Achievement Awards

Read more: Suicide support program to be trialled at Redland Hospital

The organisation provides one-on-one and group peer support,

workshops, meetings and other support programs, but these are
set to be scaled back in the near future due to funding cuts.

"We're experiencing a time of consolidation and it's looking like it

will mean a reduction of service," Mr Walker said.

"The next few years will see significant cuts to a lot of smaller
community mental health services, which is unfortunate because
these services are very grassroots and are very connected to the
communities they operate in."

Mr Walker said BIG was appealing for support via a fundraising

campaign so the organisation could continue to operate as many
services and programs as possible.

"For a lot of people struggling with mental health, they don't know
where to turn and they just want to be part of a community," he
said.

"Being connected to others and having authentic, genuine

relations can't be measured or undervalued. It has a huge impact
on mental health."

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FUNDING CUTS: BIG's Capalaba premises will shut its doors on June 18.

Mr Walker said BIG's work kept people out of hospital, reducing

the burden on the public system.
"Without these services we are looking at a lot of people becoming
unwell, we're looking at the potential of lives being lost," he said.

"If we raise $100,000 it will fill the funding gap and help BIG to
keep providing our desperately needed services in the Redlands."

While BIG will close the doors for the last time at their Veronica
Street premises on June 18, volunteers and sta! hope council will
vote in their favour on Wednesday.

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For more information, visit big-inc.org.au or donate at

gofundme.com/saveBIG

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Stacey Whitlock
SW Journalist