Throughout 2007–08, the Department worked with the states and territories to implement the Commonwealth’s components of the Council of Australian Governments National Action Plan on Mental Health 2006–2011. The plan provides a framework for coordinated collaboration between government, private and non-government providers, to build a connected system of health care and community support for people affected by mental illness. Activities undertaken by the Department are discussed below.
A focus was on equipping future health professionals with the skills and knowledge they will need, post graduation, to assess, manage and refer people with a mental illness. The Department implemented the Mental Health in Tertiary Curricula initiative to expand the mental health components of undergraduate health training. This involved providing funding to eight health profession accreditation bodies to review their undergraduate course accreditation requirements in relation to mental health content. This will lead to university course content being amended and updated at the time of university course accreditation.
To enhance nurses’ mental health training, the Department also called for submissions from all Australian university nursing schools for grants to develop and implement mental health curriculum in pre-registration nursing degrees. The Department provided funding to 13 universities to ensure that nursing graduates have adequate skills and knowledge in mental health, regardless of where they choose to work within the nursing profession.
The Department, through the Mental Health Council of Australia, provided $5.72 million as one-off grants to build the capacity of 209 non government community based organisations, to respond to the increased demand for their services as a result of increased investments in the sector. This was complemented by workshops on organisational capacity building held in each state and territory.
Anonymous access to information, counselling and online self-help programs plays an important role in suicide prevention, crisis advice and referral to mental health practitioners. There is a heavy demand for anonymous counselling services across Australia.
A major achievement for the Department in 2007–08 was the delivery of new services that utilise the internet to help people with mental health problems, their families and carers. The Department supported the production of Inspire Foundation’s Reach Out! website (accessible at <www.reachout.com.au>) which provides support and resources to help improve young people’s understanding of mental health issues; and <depressioNet.com.au>, which provides information and peer support for people affected by depression. These services build upon other innovative online facilities, including the online cognitive behavioural treatment programs MoodGYM and E-couch provided by the Australian National University Centre for Mental Health Research.
The Department also provided funding to Lifeline Australia and Kids Helpline to continue with their valuable 24-hour telephone, and in the case of Kids Helpline online, counselling services.
The Department provided funding to 43 eligible rural and remote Divisions of General Practice to engage community support workers to provide community outreach and crisis counselling for individuals, families and communities in drought affected areas. These divisions were all supported through community awareness activities including resources for the community undertaken by beyondblue, and orientation and training workshops provided by the Australian General Practice Network.
The Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care Program aims to improve community access to quality primary mental health care. Since the program’s commencement in July 2001, 7,776 general practitioners have referred over 100,000 consumers to mental health services delivered by 2,665 allied health professionals.
The Department built on this success in 2007–08, by developing new, flexible and innovative models of mental health care to address service gaps and better meet the needs of vulnerable populations. This major achievement included the start of a trial in 24 rural and remote Divisions of General Practice across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania, which will test whether telephone-based cognitive behaviour therapy is an effective way to overcome barriers to accessing services in rural and remote areas. The Department also commenced reviewing and refocusing the Access to Allied Psychological Services initiative so that it better complements Medicare fee‑for‑service models such as the Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and General Practitioners initiative and addresses emerging needs. The ongoing review period for the Access to Allied Psychological Services initiative will conclude by 31 December 2008.
The Department provided funding of $4.37 million to two key projects to help the primary care and specialist mental health workforces to recognise and treat mental illness. The first developed and delivered information and orientation sessions through the Divisions of General Practice. Resources were developed by the Australian General Practice Network and the Australian Psychological Society. Around 50 divisions delivered training nationally to over 1,100 health professionals. The second project involved the development of a national multidisciplinary training package through the Mental Health Professionals Association. It produced an environment scan, an interdisciplinary training package and a related web portal. The association will deliver the training package over the next two years.
In addition, the Department commenced demonstration sites in 20 Divisions of General Practice across Australia to test models of providing better support to general practitioners to manage patients who have attempted suicide or self-harm, through referral to specialised allied psychological services. These referral pathways will allow people who have attempted suicide or self harm to get intensive allied psychological support for the 30 days following an attempt.
The Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and General Practitioners through the Medicare Benefits Schedule Initiative was developed as a major part of the Council of Australian Governments National Action Plan on Mental Health 2006–11. It is one of 13 initiatives being managed by the Department. The initiative is aimed at increasing access to better and more affordable care for people with a mental disorder. Since its commencement in November 2006, more than one million people have received Medicare rebates under the initiative, and total benefits paid have exceeded $450 million. More than 30,000 health professionals have delivered services, including more than 20,000 general practitioners; more than 12,500 clinical psychologists, registered psychologists, social workers and occupational therapists; and more than 1,500 psychiatrists.
To help improve recognition and treatment of mental illness, and to facilitate the implementation of the new Medicare mental health items, support was provided in 2007–08 for the training of general practitioners and other primary care professionals. The Department funded the development and delivery of a series of information and orientation sessions developed and delivered through the Divisions of General Practice. In addition, a national training package was developed for the primary care and specialist mental health workforces, to promote shared and collaborative referral and treatment strategies in local communities across Australia. This training package, delivered through the Mental Health Interdisciplinary Networks Project, included a set of interdisciplinary training resources which are to be delivered to around 24,000 mental health professionals through 1,200 workshops over the next two years.
During 2007–08, the Department continued to improve students, teachers, parents and carers’ understanding of mental health issues through the KidsMatter and MindMatters initiatives in primary and secondary schools. The Department commenced the development of three complementary activities to strengthen existing KidsMatter initiatives. The new activities will include a mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention pilot in the early childhood sector; programs for parents whose children have early symptoms, or a diagnosis, of mental illness; and mental health pre-service training for early childhood and primary teachers and workers.
The number of primary schools participating in the KidsMatter pilot increased from 50 in 2006–07 to 101 in 2007–08. A total of 90,339 people and 2,527 schools have now been involved in MindMatters professional development training since the beginning of the initiative in 2000. This includes 1,608 government schools, 408 Catholic schools and 511 independent schools and represents over 83 per cent of schools with secondary enrolments across Australia.
Through the National Youth Mental Health Initiative, headspace provided funding to 30 sites across Australia to establish Communities of Youth Services. These sites have worked in an integrated way to provide a shopfront to a range of health care services including mental health and alcohol and drug services and social support services to young people aged 12 to 25. Approximately 5,000 young people were assisted to June 2008 with the first ten Communities of Youth Services sites established late in 2007.
The Department supported over 70 projects nationwide to help prevent suicide, with projects ranging from small, community-based approaches to national population-based initiatives such as the Schizophrenia Australia Foundation (SANE) Media Centre and StigmaWatch which promotes the accurate, respectful and sensitive depiction of mental illness and suicide. The Department also worked towards building the suicide prevention evidence base, by supporting various research projects with a number of Australian and international bodies, including the World Health Organization.
A highlight of 2007–08 was the publication of the revised Living is for Everyone (LIFE): A framework for the prevention of suicide in Australia (2007) suite of resources. The framework presents practical resources and fact sheets to assist in the development of suicide prevention interventions, and to provide the most current evidence and research. These resources are available at <www.livingisforeveryone.com.au>.
In 2008–09, the Department will support a new National Suicide Prevention Strategy work program that will provide additional psychological services for people who have attempted suicide or self-harm; and build the capacity of rural organisations to provide allied and nursing mental health services. The Department will also help Indigenous communities to provide culturally appropriate suicide prevention activities that are integrated with other social health programs; and support the development of bereavement response services for families and friends who have lost someone to suicide.
The Department worked with the Mental Health Council of Australia to establish a national advocacy register of mental health consumers and carers, and supported mentoring for ten mental health consumer and carer future leaders. The Department also managed 60 grants under the Support for Day to Day Living in the Community Program – an initiative that places people with severe and persistent mental illness in structured activities such as art and craft classes, gardening and discussion groups to improve their social participation and independent living skills. This program will provide 5,686 medium-support places and 1,282 drop-in places (totalling 6,968 places) in the period 2006–09. Between July 2007 and June 2008, over 5,600 clients accessed the program and over 2,240 places were provided.
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