Out of the abyss

But when the lights go down at Echuca’s Paramount Cinema on Saturday, October 17, there will be nowhere for her to hide behind the badge.

Narelle is preparing to bare her soul as The Policewoman, an intensely personal documentary about the devastating toll policing took on her and her battle to rebuild her life, has its Victorian premiere in the district she calls home.

For residents who know her as a friend, neighbour and familiar face, it will reveal a side of Narelle few have seen.

“I feel very proud. A bit nervous, but very proud, because there’s a lot of stuff in the doco that people won’t know about me,” she said.

“Maybe you just bare your soul, or a lot of it. It doesn’t come naturally.

“I’m a very open person, but there’s stuff in there, some quite personal stuff, that normally I would never share, and I have.”

Narelle spent 27 years with Victoria Police, including 15 as a detective across the rape and homicide squads and Missing Persons Unit.

Her career placed her at the centre of some of the country’s most notorious investigations, including the Mornington Monster murders, the Wales-King society murders, the Maria Korp case and the 2002 Bali bombings.

But relentless exposure to murder, abuse and trauma came at a devastating personal cost.

A post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis in 2012 abruptly ended the career she loved and forced Narelle to confront who she was without the badge that had defined much of her life.

The Policewoman takes viewers inside that journey, with Narelle confronting experiences and emotions she would usually keep private.

Filming sometimes reduced her to tears, but Narelle said director Claire Pasvolsky and producer Steve Pasvolsky earned her complete trust.

“They got me from the start. They understand me,” she said.

“They were able to capture my personality, the tough stuff, the lighter stuff.

“I trust them with my life. I really do.”

Narelle has seen the finished documentary only once, at an advance screening in Western Australia.

“I was actually quite moved when I saw it,” she said.

But its Echuca screening is especially significant.

“I just think how lovely that a Victorian premiere is in Echuca,” she said.

“I just feel very connected to the Echuca community, to my friends and to the country. I love it here.”

The region is also woven into the documentary, with scenes filmed at Echuca’s historic Loco Shed and Narelle’s district home, while Moama Bowling Club features through a recreation linked to a presentation she delivered for the Blue Ribbon Foundation.

By exposing her own vulnerability, Narelle hopes audiences will better understand the people behind the uniforms of police and other first responders.

“I want people to understand and be a bit more sympathetic to first responders, what they are faced with, what they are exposed to,” she said.

“In policing, I had to put on this facade of strength and courage, and underneath it all I’m just like anyone else.

“Beneath that facade is just a normal member of the community.”

She also hopes her story sends another message: a mental illness diagnosis does not have to define the rest of a person’s life.

“I want to inspire people that just because you’re diagnosed with a mental illness, it’s not the end of the world,” she said.

“There is another world out there. And I have found it is just so unexpected, my life after policing.”

For Narelle, that new world includes the peace of her home, where water and open country have helped her heal.

“Living up here in the house that I live in, it’s been really good for my mental health because I’m surrounded by peace, by water,” she said.

“The way that our house is placed, we look at the sunset over the water. I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that, does it?”

The Policewoman screens at the Echuca Paramount at 4pm on Saturday, October 17, followed by a Q&A with Narelle and Claire. It opens nationally on November 5.

Tickets are available at www.echucaparamount.com/movie/the-policewoman