LEON DELANEY, HOST: Canberra's southern suburbs now have access to a brand new free walk-in mental health centre. It's in Tuggeranong. And doing the honours today, the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health, Emma McBride. Good afternoon.
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Good to be with you, Leon.
DELANEY: Thanks very much for joining us today. What's available now for the very good citizens of Tuggeranong that wasn't there before?
MCBRIDE: What this will mean for people on the southern side of Canberra is walk-in access to free mental health support and care. They’re staffed by a multi-disciplinary team of social workers, psychologists and people with their own lived experience so someone can walk in in distress, seeking advice and support, or someone can get specialist help from a clinician tailored to meet their needs, all for free on the southern side.
DELANEY: So obviously very handy for the people on the south side of Canberra. When will the centre operate? Will it open seven days a week? Is it open 24 hours a day? What's the story?
MCBRIDE: The service will be open from 9am till 5:30pm, Monday to Friday. It's also available outside of those hours by appointment, if- understanding that might be flexible to meet other people's needs, and also as part of this service, to complement it, there's a Medicare mental health phone line, which is open 24-7. That phone line will be staffed by local people and will be housed out of the new Medicare Mental Health Centre in Tuggeranong. And for your listeners, that phone number is 1-800-595-212 and that's 24-7.
DELANEY: Okay, well, that's good to know, and the reason I ask, of course, is that people that are experiencing a mental health crisis generally end up attending the emergency department of a public hospital, which is also, generally speaking, not necessarily the best place for them to be.
MCBRIDE: That's why we're bringing mental health services into Medicare and services right into the heart of local communities. I'm a mental health worker by background and I saw people in distress end up in crisis and present to emergency departments. And in response to that, we're rolling out a network of Medicare and mental health centres right across the country, two in the ACT, 91 nationally to make sure that wherever someone lives, they can get the support and care that they need closer to home and for free.
DELANEY: Now, the hours of operation are important because people generally tend to have a crisis at the more inconvenient hours of the day, don't they?
MCBRIDE: And that's right. A mental health crisis isn’t limited to business hours and that's why with this network, there's the service that people can go to from 9:00 till 5:30, Monday to Friday. And as I said, if do- if people do need an appointment outside of those hours, that can be arranged and also there's the phone line. And I'd also like to let your listeners know that in the coming months, there'll also be a virtual network of psychiatrists and psychologists that each Medicare and mental health centre, including the one in Tuggeranong, will be linked to and I had the chance as part of the official opening today to see the consult room with the video conferencing facilities, which will mean that if someone needs more specialist psychiatry or psychology support, that'll also be available to them in Tuggeranong.
DELANEY: Well, that's quite important because around Australia, there's a shortage of specialists and that includes psychiatrists and psychologists, but here in Canberra in particular, if you need to get an appointment with a psychiatrist, it can be a very long wait in the public system and the private system is prohibitively expensive, isn't it?
MCBRIDE: And this is why we're looking at reducing any of those barriers to access so that someone in distress who's seeking support doesn't end up in crisis. So with the Medicare Mental Health Centre, you don't need a referral from a GP, you don't need an appointment to walk in and you don't need a mental health treatment plan. So we're looking at reducing or removing all of those barriers that would prevent people from accessing care so that they can get the care they need sooner and the right kind of care tailored to their needs and closer to home.
DELANEY: Yeah, well, that's the important thing, access to some of those mental health professionals. Now, you said there are two in the ACT. The new one that's opened in Tuggeranong today. Where's the other one?
MCBRIDE: The other one is in Civic, 14 Childers Street in Canberra City. That one is open extended hours, so Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 till 5:00 and it's open late nights on Tuesday and Thursdays till 7:00pm. So understanding that there is some flexibility if someone on the south side needs access out of those hours, they might be able to also or they could also access the service in Civic. The service Civic also, importantly, I should mention, has psychiatrists available. So if someone in Canberra does need that more specialist clinical support, that is also able to be arranged and for free.
DELANEY: That's great news. Any plans for another one in the north somewhere, like Belconnen for example?
MCBRIDE: These services are very much in demand and there's an evaluation of the Medicare Mental Health Centres happening at the moment and they are funded under the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement, including a bilateral with the ACT, and I’d expect with the renegotiations of that agreement that there would be interest in having more centres but I can let your listeners know that there are other vital mental health services that will be opening up very soon. We’re working with the Territory Government to open a Medicare Mental Health Kids Hub in Tuggeranong for young people aged from nought to 12 and their families which will offer developmental, emotional and behavioural support. That service will be collocated with a perinatal mental health service and we’re expecting it to be open by the end of this year.
DELANEY: That’s fantastic. I should also ask though what about further afield in the wider Canberra region? Queanbeyan’s a big town for example. Do they deserve their own mental health centre as well?
MCBRIDE: Yes, and Queanbeyan does have a Mental Health Hub. We’re working to make sure that wherever people live, that these centres are closer to home. This is part of a network of as I mentioned 91 across the country that we’re rolling out and I was very pleased to open the 41st right in the ACT in the heart of Tuggeranong today.
DELANEY: Fantastic. Thanks very much for chatting today.
MCBRIDE: Good to be with you, Leon.
DELANEY: Thank you. Emma McBride, the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health.