Eleanor Britton

Eleanor Britton describes herself as a country girl at heart. Growing up on a dairy farm gave Eleanor an appreciation of the natural environment. She enjoyed helping with any outdoor chores and loved the freedom of farm life. Witnessing the hard work put in on the farm by both her parents and the additional off-farm income her mother Anne was always able to provide would become quite an influence on Eleanor, equally as much as going to the cricket with her Dad Tony every Saturday is still a favourite memory. The sport-loving Eleanor would have loved to have played cricket herself but at that time it just wasn’t an option for girls.

At Naringal Primary School many of the students were Eleanor’s cousins and many of them later joined her as students of CBC and St Ann’s, where her love of all sports saw her appointed as a St Ann’s Sports Captain in her senior years.

In the years following school, Eleanor did some travelling, and tried her hand in a couple of different industries, before meeting and marrying Ian Britton, who was a new teacher at St Ann’s. At that point, Eleanor had no idea how important health care would become in the lives of her family. Eleanor and Ian’s first child, Chloe, became seriously ill. At age six Chloe underwent a liver transplant at the Austin Hospital. Following the transplant Chloe continued to suffer from infections and her physician suggested that a move to a warmer climate may help to break the cycle of infection.

Eleanor, who at the time was the Business Manager at Panmure Primary School, and her family packed up the car and relocated to Western Australia for what they thought would be a temporary stay.

Chloe thrived in the different climate and Eleanor and Ian loved the environment, often taking the opportunity to explore. On a road trip through central Australia they appreciated the beauty of the land they were on, but they were shocked by the contrast of the living conditions of indigenous peoples. They felt shocked and embarrassed that, as privileged and educated Australians, they were so ignorant of the conditions that existed in their own country.

These experiences were to have a significant impact on Eleanor’s view of the world. At the time she was working as the Business Manager of a medical practice and began to think more and more about access and equality in health care.

In 2011 an opportunity arose to work with the not-for-profit, community-based organisation, GP Down South, which at the time ran a small general practice for vulnerable and marginalised young people aged twelve to twenty-five. The work of GP Down South focused on: mental health, indigenous health, chronic disease management, youth health and drug and alcohol issues.

Eleanor’s knowledge of the deep divide between those who have a lot and those who have little became more extensive. She witnessed high levels of youth unemployment and youth suicide in the local Peel region.

Seeing a need for more comprehensive health care, Eleanor was instrumental in the development of some key programs for the Peel region. One of these was an Outreach Bus - the Peel Mobile Health Service which she took to the outlying areas providing free counselling services and distributing information on issues such as drugs and alcohol addiction, diabetes, diet and mental health issues.

A keen interest in mental health led to Eleanor developing a flagship program for secondary students - the Tier Three Youth Mental Health program. The program was designed to remove the stigma associated with talking about mental health and to give young people the tools and language they needed to help them talk about the issues they were facing, gain the courage to seek help and to provide one on one clinical intervention.

When the region faced a spate of youth suicides Eleanor was propelled into action, devising a systematic and holistic solution to help stem the tragic loss of young lives. In 2015 Eleanor proposed a ‘one-stop-shop’ concept that would see a range of service providers working together to remove barriers to access, provide immediate help and achieve better health outcomes.

As nothing like this existed nationally, this idea was at first met with some skepticism and resistance.

Eleanor had to be absolutely relentless in: her pursuit of funding: sharing her vision and seeking support from all levels of government. In 2017 Eleanor led a public campaign and petition gaining thousands of signatures and successfully lobbying the federal government to award a headspace centre in Mandurah under the condition they be located in the Peel Health Hub under a co-location model of care.

Ultimately Eleanor’s persistence and hard work paid off and she succeeded in gaining bi-partisan support from federal, state and local governments. The $9.8 million Peel Health Hub opened in December 2018, on time, under budget with nine co-locating organisations offering a coordinated response to health issues. The Peel Health Hub was recognised as a unique model of care that would be closely watched around Australia as an outstanding example of innovative health care.

Decades after leaving St Ann’s, Eleanor’s dream of playing cricket was finally realised. Encouraged by her youngest daughter Melanie to give cricket a go, Eleanor now opens the batting for Rockingham-Mandurah in the WA Premier league.

Chloe, the girl who was so ill as a child, is now an ICU nurse at a leading Perth hospital, often having the opportunity to support others who are undergoing organ transplants. Chloe has also given Eleanor and Ian a beautiful and healthy grandson who is now 7 years old.

In 2019 Eleanor Britton was officially inducted as a ‘local legend’ by Mandurah City Council. Eleanor was recognized for her unwavering passion and dedication to improving health services for youth and as the driving force behind the development of the Peel Health Hub and its collaborative model of care.

Mandurah mayor Rhys Williams said that Eleanor was, “...an extremely deserving recipient of the award, having spent countless hours dedicated to lobbying. Eleanor gave real heart and soul to the plight of having our Peel Health Hub built in Mandurah, as well as many other programs and services she has worked so hard to secure for the young people and vulnerable people in our community, with young people now having access to vital support services at the Hub, which is absolutely paramount to our community. Her passion definitely shines through.”