The Blue Tree on the Wangaratta-Whitfield Road had been a powerful conversation starter around mental health and suicide within our community since it had been painted in December 2022.  

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Just four months later, in April 2023, the Wangaratta Historic Motor Show and Fly In committee approached our president Trevor Jenvey, requesting assistance to establish their own Blue Tree, as a permanent conversation starter on their grounds.

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The bi-annual event held at the Wangaratta Airport attracts a wide variety of commercial vehicles, trucks, fire engines, ambulances, police cars, army transport, motorcycles,  tractors, aircraft… and thousands of visitors.  Herein was another opportunity to ignite more conversations around mental health and suicide amongst visitors to the show as soon as they spotted the Blue Tree.

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Trevor Jenvey once again assembled his A Team – James Gigliotti from Ultimate Arbor Professional Tree Care and Toby Locke from Toby Locke Restorations.  Doug Gigliotti organised the tower hire and Jenvey Transport once again provided the extra ground support and logistics to get the job done.   The Wattyl Paint Centre Wodonga were again approached for the enormous amount of special Wattyl “Blue Tree” paint required for this job and in an incredible gesture of generosity and support for what this project stands for, each of these individuals and business’s donated their equipment, product, time and services, to get this tree painted.

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But this is not the end of this special story.  Driven by the conversations our community Blue Tree project had sparked and the request for a second Blue Tree in Wangaratta, Trevor, also knowing the enthusiasm visitors to this show had to big trucks, approached Membrey’s Transport, one of Australia’s most trusted family haulage and crane companies.  They had been operating since 1962 and they had a very big truck with a powerful message and a lasting tribute to a young life lost to suicide, and it was being used to create conversations around mental health and suicide too.

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Craig Membrey had a fondness for naming trucks after his family members, and in 2011 he had purchased a Kenworth T904 that he was going to name after his wife.  Devastatingly, just two days after he purchased the truck, Craig and Nicole’s son, Rowan, took his life.  He was just 17 years of age.   Following the unimaginable loss of losing one’s son by suicide, Craig and Nicole decided the truck would be rebuilt to become a lasting tribute to Rowan, a mobile memorial, that could travel around Australia promoting the work of Beyond Blue and raising awareness about depression and suicide.

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Trevor, who tragically lost his own son to suicide in 2018, at just 22 years of age, knew the powerful message the Blue Tree, with its beacon of blue hope and ability to start conversations about mental health and suicide would have, standing tall beside the powerful and lasting tribute of Rowan’s Truck, with its incredibly moving airbrushed mural on the rear of the cab featuring life size images of Rowan at various stages of his life; from a smiling school photo to pictures of him doing what he loved doing most – BMX.

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A mental health hub was assembled to be present at the show.  It included W.A.S.P, Beyond Blue, Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals and Grit and Resilience.  All engaged in a day of grass-roots community conversations about mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention as well as promoting the support services, programs and community resources for those at risk, to the thousands of visitors at the 2023 Wangaratta Historic Motor Show and Fly In.  

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So many raw and emotional conversations were enabled that day, with people stopping by our stand to share the stories of those they had loved and lost to suicide.  It was no coincidence these conversations occurred and were empowered by the very presence of the Blue Tree and Rowan’s Truck.

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We are incredibly grateful to the Wangaratta Historic Motor Show and Fly In for approaching W.A.S.P to facilitate this project and allow us to continue to paint and spread the Blue Tree message.  We are also deeply indebted to Craig Membrey and his family for entrusting us to display Rowan’s Truck and Ethan and Danni, who drove it from Dandenong for the day.

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No matter how a loved one dies, the impact of their death is always difficult.
However, when a loved one dies by suicide, certain grief processes and
bereavement themes make coping with the loss very difficult.

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Suicide stigma can also undermine social network supports and increase
isolation, putting those people bereaved by suicide at eight times more risk to
take their life than the general population. Postvention supports that assist with
the recovery process and provide those bereaved by suicide with the very best
chance to rebuild their lives, are then, absolutely critical.

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With this in mind, the W.A.S.P Peer Support Group for those Bereaved by Suicide
was developed to connect people who had lost a loved one to suicide, allowing
them to share their experiences in a supportive and safe environment. Driven by
goals of self-help and support, W.A.S.P agreed the proposed monthly meeting
would be set up as a peer support group, rather than one that was facilitated via
Health Care professionals.

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Peer support groups are a space to connect with others, self-reflect, discuss
challenges, share our experiences, struggles, strengths and self-help strategies.
They are facilitated, or run by trained volunteers and the role of a facilitator is to
ensure everyone in the group is comfortable and safe and that participants are
following the Support Group guidelines.

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With the assistance of The Grit and Resilience Program, five W.A.S.P members
participated in a three-day Support Group Facilitators course led by the Michelle
Graeber from ARCVic, in February 2022. The aim was to then get the Peer
Support Group for those Bereaved by Suicide up and running by the middle of
that year.

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Led by Celia Piesse, who was the Grit and Resilience Postvention Officer at the
time, the group set about creating safe and appropriate guidelines that set out
suitable boundaries for the group, whilst giving our facilitators some structure to
maintain safety and integrity for all members of the group.
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It was decided the Support Group would meet on the 4 th Wednesday of every
month and that there would be a daytime (9.30am-11am) and an evening (7pm-
8.30pm) session, to ensure anyone who wanted to attend, could. The Support
Group met in the Community Room at the Wangaratta Library from July 2022 –
October 2023.

Sadly, the W.A.S.P Support Group for those Bereaved by Suicide is not currently
running due to lack of uptake. It is hoped with community interest this support
group can be reignited. If you are interested in attending or you know somebody
else that may find it helpful, please email us at wasp@waspwangaratta.com.au
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In the meantime, W.A.S.P will continue to pursue postvention supports that help
destigmatise suicide and better support families and loved ones struggling with
the grief, the trauma and the loss, so that the silence of suicide is not so loud.

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The blue tree on the Wangaratta-Whitfield Road is a bold conversation starter within our community.  

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The first ever blue tree was painted by Jayden Whyte in 2014, in the middle of a paddock on his family's farm at Mukinbudin, Western Australia.   Tragically, just a few years later Jayden took his own life, but the story of his blue tree was shared at his funeral in 2018 and a movement was started in his honour.

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The Blue Tree Project is designed to be a conversation-starter around mental health issues and suicide, and aims to encourage people to speak up when battling mental health concerns.  By spreading the paint and spreading the message that "it's OK to not be OK", the project hopes to kick the stigma that's still largely attached to mental health in the community, one blue tree at a time.

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Our community Blue Tree project was driven by Ashlee Hutchinson and Trevor Jenvey, who tragically lost their brother and son Tom Jenvey to suicide as a 22–year–old in 2018.  Trevor is a life member of the Alpine Motorcycle Club, of which Tom was also a member, and Ashlee had shared the family's story at the Transmoto 8 Hour Endurance event held on the Markwood property of Doug and Mick Hamilton in 2019.  $3000 was subsequently raised at the event to assist with the establishment of a community Blue Tree in the Wangaratta area.

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Though the COVID-19 pandemic halted its progress in 2020 and early 2021, the concept was carried over by Ash and Trevor to the new W.A.S.P committee in 2022, where plans for a Blue Tree in Wangaratta were recommenced.

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The biggest hurdle was to locate an appropriate tree.  In alignment with the story behind the original blue tree, the tree could not be living.  Natural habitat and wildlife considerations also had to be taken into account and of course, if the tree was on private property, permission was required.  After many site visits and equally as many roadblocks, Trevor eventually found the perfect tree and began the discussions with landowners, Ian and Anna McDonald.  The rest they say is history and the group will be forever grateful to Ian and Anna, who generously agreed to give new life to an otherwise dead tree on their Wangaratta property.

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Ultimate Arbor Professional Tree Care and Jenvey Transport stepped in to assist with the logistics and provide the specialised equipment required to trim and clean up the tree and Trevor Jenvey, Chris Grainger and a crew of enthusiastic volunteers cleaned up everything at ground level.  It was then time for Toby Locke, who had also volunteered his equipment, expertise and time to strap into the cherry picker and apply the 100’s of litres of “Blue Tree” paint to the true, that had been kindly donated by the Wattyl Paint Centre Wodonga.

The project was completed on a hot Saturday in December 2022 and stands as a poignant reminder to the family and friends of Tom Jenvey, and an ongoing remembrance of all those who have died by suicide.  

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Our community Blue Tree project was supported by the Rural City of Wangaratta and The Grit and Resilience Program.  We are also indebted to the support of the following business’s and individuals who worked tirelessly to see this project to fruition.

Trevor Jenvey

Ashlee Hutchinson

Transmoto

Ian and Anna McDonald

Ultimate Arbor Professional Tree Care

Jenvey Transport

Toby Locke Restorations

Wattyl Paint Centre Wodonga

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There are  currently 1,109 registered Blue Trees across the world.  We hope this project ignites the difficult conversations within our community and brings awareness to mental health and suicide.

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