Caring for yourself and others affected by bushfire
January 13, 2020
CatholicCare, Bushfire crisis
The devastation caused by a bushfire can lead to a range of thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviours that can be intense and confusing. It is not unusual to experience overwhelming feelings of sadness, hopelessness, guilt, shame or anger.
Recovery after trauma doesn’t mean forgetting your experience or feeling no emotional pain when remembering it. Recovery means becoming less distressed and having more confidence in your ability to cope, as time goes on.
Generally, these feelings will resolve on their own, and with the support of family and friends, you will recover. This information will provide you with some ideas to help you manage in the days and weeks after a trauma. Even if you don’t feel like it, try some of these tips, which may help you to come to terms with the traumatic event you experienced, and reduce some of the distress associated with it:
Try to re-establish your sleep routine and prioritise rest
Limit viewing of photos and video footage of the bushfire. Images and content on the news and social media can be very overwhelming
Do things that help you relax such as meditation, prayer, mindfulness, exercise such as walking or swimming, taking part in hobbies or interests
Spend time with people who care about you and connect with loved ones
Find out about the impact of trauma and what to expect
Be patient and understanding with yourself and others on the journey of recovery
Limit consumption of drugs, alcohol and caffeine
Talk to a psychologist or counsellor about how you feel about what happened, when you are ready
Acknowledge your efforts and steps taken to recover
Be prepared for times when you feel you are making no progress, everyone experiences this.
We encourage you to seek further support if needed. To talk to a CatholicCare trauma counsel- lor over the phone or book a face-to-face meeting, phone 02 42 549 395 (lines are open Mon to Fri 9am – 5pm) or email [email protected].
Outside of business hours you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 (available 24/7) or, if you don’t want
to talk, text with them nightly on 0477 13 11 14 (Lifeline Text is available 6pm to midnight AEDT).
Account means the account held at your financial institution from which we are authorised to arrange for funds to be debited.
Agreement means this Direct Debit Request Service Agreement between you and us, including the direct debit request.
Business day means a day other than a Saturday or a Sunday or a listed public holiday.
Debit day means the day that payment is due.
Debit payment means a particular transaction where a debit is made, according to your direct debit request.
Direct debit request means the Direct Debit Request between us and you.
Us and we and our means the Catholic Development Fund.
You means the customer(s) who signed the direct debit request. Your financial institution is the financial institution where you hold the account that you have authorised us to arrange to debit.
Debiting your account
By submitting a direct debit request, you have authorised us to arrange for funds to be debited from your account according to the agreement we have with you.
We will only arrange for funds to be debited from your account:
As authorised in the direct debit request; if the debit day falls on a day that is not a business day, we may direct your financial institution to debit your account on the following or previous business day. If you are unsure about which day your account has or will be debited, please check with your financial
Changes by you
If you wish to stop or defer a debit payment you must write to us at least 5 business days before the next debit day.
This notice should be given to us in the first instance.
Your obligations
It is your responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient clear funds available in your account to allow a debit payment to be made.
If there are insufficient clear funds available in your account to meet a debit payment:
you or your account may be charged a fee and/or interest by your financial institution;
you or your account may be charged a fee to reimburse us for charges we have incurred for the failed transaction;
you must arrange for the payment to be made by another method
Please check your account statement to verify that the amounts debited from your account are correct.
Dispute
If you believe that there has been an error in debiting your account you should call us on 1800 047 703 and confirm the details in writing with us as soon as possible so that we can resolve your query quickly.
Accounts
You should check:
with your financial institution whether direct debiting is available from your accounts offered by financial
your account details which you have provided to us are correct by checking them against a recent account statement; and
with your financial institution before completing the direct debit request if you have any queries about how to complete the direct debit
Warning: if the account number you have quoted is incorrect, you may be charged a fee to reimburse our costs in correcting any deductions from:
an account you do not have authority to operate; or
an account you do not
Confidentiality
We will keep any information (including your account details) in your direct debit request confidential.
We will make reasonable efforts to keep any such information that we have about you secure and to ensure that any of our employees or agents who have access to information about you, do not make any unauthorised use, modification, reproduction or disclosure of that information.
However, we may use your contact details to provide information about the fund. Should you wish this not to be the case, please advise the fund in writing.
Our diocesan logo is theologically rich and very succinct. As a hand, it depicts our mission as a diocese and as individuals within the diocese, of bearing (bringing, carrying) Christ’s love to one another and to the world around us. In this, we are the hand of Jesus Christ, and we are offering ourselves to him so that he might work through us.
We can be the bearers of his love only as a response to his call and in the strength of his grace. We are reminded of this in two ways—through the symbol of the dove (the Holy Spirit) also present in the logo, and by the incorporation of the cross that segments the logo. The presence of the cross is a reminder that bearing the love of Christ will inevitably cost us if we live it authentically. However, in the way that the Cross is the portent of redemption and life—an echo of the tree of life in the book of Genesis—so becoming bearers of the love of Christ will also bring us to life.
The four fingers of the hand also represent the four regions of our diocese. The first is bluerepresenting the beautiful water of the Shoalhaven. The second is a blue and green combination representing the waters and escarpment of the Illawarra. The third is greendepicting the hills and plains of the Macarthur. The fourth is dark green illustrating the forests of the Southern Highlands.
