SARAH HOWELLS, HOST: Twenty-three minutes to nine right now, and Emma McBride is the Federal Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health – and, you know what? She's on the Sunshine Coast, she joins you now as well. Good morning.
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Good, Sarah. Good to be with you.
HOWELLS: You too. What is it that's brought you to the Sunshine Coast today?
MCBRIDE: I'm so pleased to be here on the Sunshine Coast to let your listeners and the wider community know that we'll be officially opening the new Medicare Mental Health Centre in your community. Medicare Mental Health Centres are free. Someone doesn't need a referral from a doctor, they don't need an appointment, and they'll be able to receive wraparound support and care to meet their mental health needs. And I'm so pleased that we'll be officially opening one in your community at 10 o'clock today.
HOWELLS: Exciting. Now, this is opening up in Birtinya, which is amazing. And mental health facilities are not always easy to get to. Sometimes you need referrals, you need to go to your GP first. There can be a few barriers to getting there. How much easier does this make it for people?
MCBRIDE: I was a mental health worker myself in a regional hospital in New South Wales, and what I saw and what we know in communities right across the country is that it was really hard to access support in the community close to home when you needed it. And often people would end up distressed, would end up in crisis, and they'd end up with long inpatient admissions in hospitals. And what Medicare Mental Health Centres are designed to do is remove all of those barriers. You don't need to see a GP to get a referral. You don't need to have a mental health treatment plan. You don't need an appointment, you can just walk in. And one of the things that is making a big impact in these centres is that you're often greeted by a peer worker, someone with their own personal lived experience, which is often the best start – someone who's walked in your shoes – to starting your journey to seek support and care.
HOWELLS: So who is it for? Who can walk through those doors?
MCBRIDE: Everybody. Anybody can walk into a Medicare Mental Health Centre. They complement our network of headspaces, so they're designed for adults, but anyone can walk in. in. And as I said, they don't need a referral from a GP. They don't have to have a Medicare- they don't have to have a mental health treatment plan, and they're staffed by multidisciplinary teams, so they're designed to meet the wraparound support that people in distress need. So it might be that you're seeking some information or advice. It might be that you need ongoing counselling and support. The centre today that we're opening has, in terms of their clinical staff, they have a psychologist on site, they have a social worker on site, they have peer workers. And we're also setting up nationally, and this will be happening in the coming months, a virtual network of specialist psychologists and psychiatrists. So if you do need that more specialist support from a clinician, that will also be able to be arranged for you for free.
HOWELLS: Amazing. Now, there's a few of these Medicare Mental Health Centres opening across Queensland. Why Birtinya? Why is it needed on the Sunshine Coast?
MCBRIDE: We know that in your community there has been particular distress, and we want to make sure that we're bringing those services closer to communities where it's needed most. You're right, we are expanding our network nationally to almost 90 locations, including 24 in Queensland. And I'm pleased to say the one we're officially opening is one of nine that's already up and running in Queensland. And having had a look at the sort of the presentations already, there's already been more than 3000 points of contact with this service since it's been open. So it opened in a temporary location last year, but in its permanent location just at the end of March, and already it's had more than 3000 service contacts, which suggests the need in the community and the trust and confidence that people have in these new Medicare Mental Health Centres.
HOWELLS: So official opening today at 10.00 – does that mean people can walk through the doors from then?
MCBRIDE: That's right. This is open Monday to Friday from 10.00 till 5.00, and there's also appointments open on Saturday. So if that better suits somebody, then they can make an appointment to go in on a Saturday as well. So we're trying to open them for extended hours to meet the needs of individuals and families.
HOWELLS: Yeah, of course, because some people work and they can't make it if it's only open, like, during work hours and that sort of thing. So great to consider that as well.
And in your role as Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, what are you focused on to bring about change?
MCBRIDE: I first started working in mental health more than 25 years ago as a young pharmacist, and what I saw then was that there were lots of barriers to people being able to access support and care, and that there weren't many options available to people. If they had a GP, they could make an appointment with their GP, which would often take longer than they needed, and then be given a referral to a psychologist, which would then, again, lead to a long wait time and out-of-pocket costs. What I wanted to do, and this is really listening to people right across the country in my role to understand their needs as well, and what I've heard right across the country is that people wanted those barriers removed. They wanted to be able to access that care quickly, closer to home and affordably. And that's what this network of Medicare Mental Health Centres, complementing our now more than 167 headspaces, is designed to do. So whatever your stage of life, whatever your needs are, there should be a service that is close to you, that's free, and that you can access when you need it.
HOWELLS: So this new Medicare mental health service in Birtinya is opening as of today. What else is happening on the Sunshine Coast to support people's mental health?
MCBRIDE: I'm really pleased – I mentioned headspace, and many people in your community would know headspace and perhaps have access to headspace themselves. So we're also investing in expanding and strengthening the headspace network, and we'll have a new type of headspace called headspace plus. We know that young people are experiencing more severe distress earlier in life, and when headspace was originally designed, it was designed for sort of moderate to mild mental ill health. Now this new model of headspace plus, and one which will be opening in Maroochydore, will be designed to meet those growing needs of young people in the community as well. So headspace plus in Maroochydore, complementing the Medicare Mental Health Centre in Birtinya.
HOWELLS: [Laughs] Yeah, I know. We've got some tricky place names on the Sunny Coast. All right. Well, lots of stuff happening and very exciting that this is opening, because we've seen it be such a challenge for people to access that mental health support, whether it's financially or just being able to even get an appointment. So a walk-in clinic like this I'm sure will make a difference. Emma McBride, thank you so much for joining me this morning.
MCBRIDE: Good to be with you, Sarah.
HOWELLS: Emma McBride, the Federal Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health. And yes, that opens today in Birtinya – exciting stuff.