GROWING up a third-generation Catholic in India, Carlton Meyn’s passion for social justice and the marginalised was developed at a very early age.
As the chairman of the pastoral council of St Michael’s Parish, Dorrington, on Brisbane’s northside, and recently appointed general manager of the Royal Queensland Bush Children’s Health Scheme (RQBCHS), that passion and enthusiasm shows no sign of waning.
Carlton was born in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, where he spent his primary school years before the family moved to Bangalore.
He said that, with less than two per cent of India’s population being Christian, he was lucky to have been educated in Catholic schools.
“There are always difficulties but I was fortunate that the two places we went to had Catholic schools, one was a Jesus and Mary school and the other was a Jesuit school.”
Carlton said that, despite his father’s attempts to steer him towards an engineering career, his concerns for social justice and care of the marginalised would not be denied.
“I went and did an engineering diploma and finished that and straight away went back and straight into psychology,” he said.
“In India, I (didn’t) think people valued humanity, that was my impression of things then.
“People who probably didn’t think it was abuse were abusing people and I saw that happen and always found that very hard to accept.”
Before heading to Australia 17 years ago Carlton was working as a psychotherapist in an international community doing research on schizophrenia, specialising in working with people with multiple personalities.
“I could see how people (with schizophrenia) were misunderstood, how easily they became misunderstood but actually they were human beings just like you and me,” he said.
“It is a lack of education in some cases, and educating people in respect for a fellow human being is most important for me.”
Carlton’s passion for the marginalised and disadvantaged found an outlet within a week of landing in Australia when he started as a volunteer with Kids’ Help Line.
Since then he has worked and or volunteered with organisations such as Volunteering Queensland, Homeless Connect and now Royal Queensland Bush Children’s Health Scheme, soon to be commonly known as “Bushkids”.
Some of the high points during those 17 years include managing volunteers for CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) and the Goodwill Games for Volunteering Queensland when these events were held in Brisbane, helping take Homeless Connect to the Gold Coast and Perth, and being involved with World Youth Day pilgrims at St Michael’s parish during Days in the Diocese in 2008.
Carlton, who is married with two daughters, is a firm believer that one doesn’t have to look far to find needs in any community.
“There is definitely a lot of need in your own backyard,” he said.
“Being an Indian and coming here, I feel I need to do what’s in my community first and even if it’s talking to my neighbour to start with and seeing that they are alright, or if there is an old person who wants to stay at home – stretching your hand across is the start of something.
“There is a huge need within our own communities and I think you have got to give back to your own community first.
“My father always taught me, don’t think of what you are going to get, think of what you can give and that’s all there is to it.
“It is the cycle of life – you put in what you get and it just keeps on happening.”
Carlton was appointed general manager of “Bushkids” three months ago and believes the Royal Queensland Bush Children’s Health Scheme is a perfect organisation for people, particularly fellow Catholics, to channel their social justice passions into.
“We’ve been an organisation that has done a lot of work but has flown under the radar and I think it is time for us to use our achievements (and) to tell people what we do,” he said.
“We run on a deficit and we need to attract more funds and we need to attract more volunteers.
“Children are very important to me and when I researched the access and equity for children (with Bushkids) I thought this is where I can make a difference.”
Carlton said any organisation that survived 75 years of work such as that done by RQBCHS had to be a good organisation.
“When I went for the interview I found the chairman and the board members were people who cared deeply for what they did and, for me, that is very important,” he said.
Carlton said few people seemed to realise that over recent years the RQBCHS had evolved from bringing patients from the bush to large coastal cities for treatment into taking multi-disciplinary services directly to bush communities.
“Today we have six service centres – in Mt Isa, Emerald, Dalby, Bundaberg, Inglewood and Warwick,” he said.
“Our clients are rural children aged to twelve years who are suffering some health, behavioural, emotional, social and/or developmental difficulties.
“We provide free short-term intensive therapy through individual therapy sessions and group/program work with parent support and involvement a core component of our courses.”
Carlton said a multi-professional teams with a psychologist, speech pathologist, occupational therapist and family health support worker provided therapy services to referred children and families.
“More support in terms of either volunteers or funding would mean we could see more children on our waiting list,” he said.
Carlton was quick to point out that a great deal of support already existed within each community, simply emphasising much more was needed.
Carlton Meyn is a man who leads by example and, despite his various positions over the past 17 years and a busy and full work schedule, he still gives back to his own community as a volunteer within the parish and community at St Michael’s, Dorrington.
“I think people want to do good they just don’t know how,” he said.
“I continue to do volunteer work no matter what and volunteer work for me – I wouldn’t even call it volunteer work – is just a part of life.”
