It's one of the most famous examples of gallows humour in popular culture: A row of condemned men singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" as they are left to die by crucifixion.
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It's hard to imagine a better way of illustrating the use of humour to cope with trauma than that iconic scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian, yet despite the laughs we still don't talk about the tough stuff as often as we should.
But now, there is a chance to talk about how tough times hit communities, because in Wagga next week, a free workshop is being held to help rural support workers cope with vicarious trauma.
In a nutshell, the workshop is designed to help the helpers as drought continue to bite into regional Australia.
In smaller communities those "helpers" don't always have the specialist mental health training they would need to cope with the realities of dealing, day after day, with families who are desperately trying to keep their livelihoods together.
But vicarious trauma is a much wider, deeper issue in the community than just during the drought.
It is the daily reality for police officers, paramedics, firefighters and other emergency volunteers, nurses and doctors. The list is endless.
All of us, in our lives, encounter situations that haunt us. We all hear or see tragedies that affect is deeply.
Now imagine encountering that kind of thing on a daily basis. It is little wonder that so many of our emergency workers decide to leave their jobs as the cumulative toll of dealing with this stuff has an effect.
With the best will in the world, we are not going to be able to prevent our emergency workers from going into difficult situations. It is simply the everyday reality of their jobs.
So if we can't stop people being exposed to situations that will start to add to the trauma, then we need to make sure they are getting the support they need to cope with it.
And now the drought is providing fresh challenges in rural communities, because in addition to those we would traditionally have considered to be in roles that put them at risk of vicarious trauma, there is a new wave of caring people in the mix.
We all know how to deal with the mild upsets. Who hasn't come to the end of a rough week and decided to catch up with family, friends or workmates for a drink, coffee or whatever activity helps to relieve the stress?
In days gone past, you could probably have walked into the pub nearest any police or ambulance at quitting time and found those who had just finished up for the day were gathered together for a "debrief".
Thankfully, somewhere along the line society has realised that leaving people to self-medicate with alcohol and mateship was not the best way to help with the trauma of doing a really hard job.
We cannot ask people to lay themselves on the line, both emotionally and physically, every day on our behalf without recognising the toll that will be taken.
Put simply, these are the people who run into the dangerous situations that we would rather flee.
And now the drought is providing fresh challenges in rural communities, because in addition to those we would traditionally have considered to be in roles that put them at risk of vicarious trauma, there is a new wave of caring people in the mix.
Worryingly, this new group of people are very unlikely to have the training that would help them cope with their role as accidental counsellors.
It's going to be the bank managers, the accountants, the school staff, business owners - people who are not trained emergency workers, but are just trying to do their bit in a drought-ravaged community.
The thing about all this is that we know hardship takes a toll on communities.
Community groups from the church halls to the CWA and sporting clubs have long banded together to help a friend when they are in trouble.
But this drought is different. It is so widespread and prolonged in many areas that whole communities are being ground down and the emotional burdens are increasing.
Forget the stiff upper lip and forget suffering in silence,, if you need help, reach out and ask for it, and one place to start is with the Blue Knot Foundation, which is running the vicarious trauma workshops.
Check out the group's website at www.blueknot.org.au.