MURRAY JONES, HOST: Well, been a busy morning, some interesting things to talk about, but something important for our region when it comes to mental health. It's one of those ongoing issues – as a society, we continue to discover more and more issues with mental health being a real issue right across communities, not just here in Queensland, right across the country and worldwide. There's lots of reasons for that. Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Emma McBride, joins me in studio. Good morning, Emma. Welcome to Cairns.
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: It's really good to be with you, Murray.
JONES: It's a shame that you're getting a little bit of the wet weather, because I can imagine from being in Canberra, you're probably looking forward to some nice, bright, shiny conditions here, unfortunately.
Look, wonderful to have you along and an important thing happening today, and we'll come to that fairly shortly. But as we're seeing right across our community, mental health, it's not just something that's being discovered more. It seems like it's something that's becoming more and more prevalent overall. And I believe it's something that you've seen in a past career as well.
MCBRIDE: That's right, Murray. In Australia today, we're seeing a big increase in psychological distress. And I spent nearly 10 years working at a local regional hospital in the acute inpatient mental health units. And what I would see with people who- in distress that escalated to crisis because they simply couldn't get the support and care that they needed in the community. And that's one of the real reasons that we're introducing these Medicare Mental Health Centres to provide support to people in the community sooner when they need it.
JONES: And look, I guess that's the key – to have that intervention at an early time is essential. Can I talk about some of the things that I guess I've seen firsthand, even in my local community? Often people that are going through mental health issues, they don't recognise it. They think they're lucid, they think they're normal and think there's other issues with society. And I guess one of the things that has come to me just in recent times is that families can be some of the key, I guess, instruments to encourage people that are suffering issues to move forward. This is a walk-in type of facility that we're talking about this morning, but there's also some of that broader support there for families as well, I understand.
MCBRIDE: There is, and we wanted to make sure that families or caregivers had support themselves to be able to support their loved ones. So if someone walks into this Medicare Mental Health Centre, they can seek information, they can seek advice to help them to support their family member, because we wanted to make sure that it was wraparound support. And this support will also be provided by a multidisciplinary team. So if it is that some input from a social worker is what's most needed, then that will be available, or it might be that it's an occupational therapist or a psychologist. So we wanted to make sure that whatever the person's needs were, that they could be met, that the service would be holistic and wraparound to be able to meet their needs and also the needs of those people close to them.
JONES: And look, thankfully there's organisations like R U OK? The understanding of mental health issues is something that I guess is getting better in society compared to- even with Anzac Day, I've got a really interesting documentary that's about to be released. And for POWs that had some really serious mental health issues after being POWs, this is many years ago after World War Two, but when they came back to society, they had some real challenges and they were just basically told to toughen up, move on. But thankfully, there's an understanding more widely in society that people need support, and that comes back to that family thing that I was talking about too.
MCBRIDE: No, it does. And we are also working in partnership with the Minister for Veterans, Minister Keogh, introducing veterans and family hubs. And there's one, and I visited it very recently in my own community, and to see family members who were also impacted by their parent service or their partner service, to know that these are places that they can go to and get support as well. And I think that's what will really make these centres have a big impact and be able to support more people in more communities.
JONES: And look, there's been a great rollout when it comes to the Urgent Care Clinics, but this particular centre we're talking about, at 267 Mulgrave Road there at Bungalow, free mental health support and care without the need for appointment or a referral. So those walk-ins. And hopefully for people that recognise they're struggling, there's that opportunity.
But coming back to, I guess, one of the key things that I'm seeing is that families that have got loved ones with those issues, having that aspect of it, I think, is essential because often it needs a family member to actually assist somebody and say, look, you're struggling. Often they're on their own and walking in. So, yeah, walking in and getting that assistance, but also encouraging people to come through because sadly this issue, and it's hard to get to the number of it, but it is obviously a growing issue in our society as well.
MCBRIDE: It is, Murray. There's lots of different drivers of this distress for people. For some people, they've had a relationship breakdown. For some people, they've had a loss in the family. For some people, they're feeling overwhelmed at work. So lots of different drivers that can cause this distress, but it is increasing, and we want to make sure that with earlier intervention, and this is what these centres are designed to do, give support sooner, that that distress doesn't escalate to crisis and people can get the support they need.
Also might be of interest to your listeners, we've just launched a new Medicare Mental Health Check In. It's a free online service where someone can call up, they can call 1800-595-212, and after a brief assessment be able to be linked in with the right kind support and care that meets their needs. So this is available Australia-wide, and it's a new free therapy sessions online for people. So if some people feel that they need more support themselves or maybe someone around them needs support, I would encourage them to go to medicarementalhealth.gov.au to be able to look at the information that's available. Whether it's a walk-in centre like we're opening in Cairns today or the digital service that's available online, we're trying to make sure that we're reducing any barriers to accessing care to make sure that people can get support when they need it, because we know that'll help them and they're much more likely to be able to heal and recover by having this kind of wraparound support and care.
JONES: And particularly before things escalate. Just one other quick thing before we wrap up, particularly for younger people, and I know that even kids in primary school these days having some issues struggling with mental health. So, I guess this opportunity is for people of all ages in relation to this particular service?
MCBRIDE: This is what we're trying to do to make sure that whatever age you are or whatever your circumstances are that there's a service that's right for you. Just across the road from where we are is headspace in Cairns and headspace is for children aged 12- from 12 to 25. And that service got an extra $500,000 to be able to reduce wait times and deliver more access to care. And we’re also uplifting the headspace in Cairns to a new model that's called headspace Plus because what we're seeing in classrooms, in playgrounds, in society, is that young people are presenting with more complex problems earlier in life, and we wanted to make sure that headspace could meet those problems. So Cairns headspace will be one of 30 across Australia that's being boosted to a headspace Plus so that young people with more complex and ongoing needs will be able to be provided that support in the community close to home.
JONES: Sure. The understanding and, of course, doing things to address these issues are some of the key things. So I'd better let you get along to the special opening there with Matty Smith as well, I believe, this morning. So great to have you in the area. Hopefully we'll start to show a bit more sunshine as the day advances. But Emma McBride MP, she's the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide. Quite the portfolio. There's a few other ones there, but we'll focus on those ones today. Thank you so much for your time. Great to see you in studio today. Take care and enjoy Cairns. Cheers.
MCBRIDE: Thanks, Murray. Good to be with you.