There’s an old saying that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life; this is very much the case for Jessica Pulis who deals every day with people in crisis who need her help.
Jessica has two important roles within the Mackay Hospital and Health Service (HHS), both of which are making a difference to anyone with mental health issues while also helping reduce ED presentations.
“My first role is as a Mental Health Co-responder, which is where I work with the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) and may get a call to an incident and work alongside a paramedic; we respond to 000 calls,” Jessica said.
“The aim of this is to assist in diverting that person simply being taken to an Emergency Department (ED) and get them the help that they need and assist with timely referrals.
“My other role is with Safe Harbour, the Crisis Support Space, located at Mackay Base Hospital, which is where we use a peer-supported approach to caring for people who are suffering from an acute mental health crisis.
“With these roles combined, since its introduction we’ve been able to reduce by 70% the number of people taken to the ED and get people the mental health support that they need.”
Jessica started her work in the field with a Bachelor in Occupational Therapy and after working in hospitals for a time decided that she wanted to explore the mental health workspace.
Currently she is studying for her masters in her precious spare time.
“It’s fascinating, I really like it,” Jessica said.
“When someone is having a crisis you are the first person they see and you have the ability to change the outcome for them. It’s about providing the best service for that person when they need it, I think that’s a really cool thing.”
With increased spending and focus since the pandemic, mental health doesn’t have the stigma that it used to.
“My role is to assess the risk and determine if they need to go to hospital or go to other services, working with community teams,” Jessica said.
“In the last twelve months or so we’ve had a 70% diversion rate, which means those people are not sitting in an ED waiting for treatment.
“We’ve seen a lot more initiatives for people to access support services, and in my other role working in the Crisis Support Space, it’s a place for people to go so again they aren’t going to an ED and there are people there who can help.
“Since COVID we’ve seen these initiatives come in which is great for Queenslanders.
“Being flexible and acknowledging that not everyone is doing their best all the time, that’s how I see my role, showing empathy and acknowledging that we need to support that person as long as we can.”
Originally from Adelaide, Jessica moved to the Mackay region in 2017 and says that is her favourite role in her career.
“Often the people we meet are going through a crisis and seeing them later on when we’ve been able to help them is just so satisfying,” Jessica said.
“I would say to anyone thinking about a career like this to go for it.
“If you love helping people then this is the best job, I think it’s pretty cool,” Jessica said.
