Providing primary mental health care

Developing a regional approach to mental health and wellbeing

In 2019, our PHN in partnership with Darling Downs Health and West Moreton Health collaborated in the development of the Foundational Joint Regional Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Plan (2019 – 2021) to ensure that all people living in our region with a mental health condition and alcohol and other drug use can access effective and appropriate treatment.

Since then, stakeholders have collaborated to explore opportunities and commence implementation of the actions outlined in the Foundational Plan.

A selection of the achievements to date are summarised below:

Supporting mental wellbeing for vulnerable children and young people

Child and Youth Mental Health Services are designed for children and young people aged 12 - 25 with, or at risk of, developing mental health conditions. The services are aimed at increasing access to evidence-based early intervention services to reduce the prevalence and impact of mental health conditions.

Helping young people maintain a healthy head space

headspace can assist young people aged 12 - 25 with their mental health and wellbeing, physical health, alcohol and other drugs, and work and study.

Our PHN continued to support the three (3) headspace Centres in our region in 2020-21:

Providing psychological support to young people who need it most

Complex Psychological Therapies provide psychological support for children and young people who otherwise may not have access to services.

Our 2020-21 funded providers were:

Coordinating care for young people

EACH provide a non-clinical care coordination service for young people, working with their families, schools, employers and other health practitioners to help them manage their mental health.

The service works in tandem with Complex Psychological Therapies services providing a combination of case management and training to both young people and families to better manage mental health conditions. Our provider was:

Supporting people with ongoing and persistent mental health needs

Mental Health Nurse Care and Psychosocial Support is for people who are diagnosed with a severe and complex mental health condition who are currently being managed in a primary care setting via a GP and/or a psychiatrist.

Mental Health Nurses provide person-centred, holistic and recovery-oriented coordinated care.

Psychosocial Support provides non-clinical support in an individual or group setting providing services that build ability and skills to assist people to manage their mental health, improve relationships with family and others, and increase social and economic participation.

Our 2020-21 providers were:

Drought support

Our PHN continued to support communities impacted by drought across the Darling Downs and West Moreton region.

Community Connections Program

Lifeline Darling Downs and South West QLD continued to deliver the Community Connections Program for communities affected by drought.

The Program delivers training to community members to act as gatekeepers, trusted advocates and referrers for drought affected community members and their families. The trusted advocates can:

• recognise and respond to signs of distress
• identify the most appropriate referral point
• assist community members to access required mental health and other relevant supports.
  

Empowering our Communities

Our PHN continued to embrace the strength of rural communities through funding community-led initiatives under the Australian Government’s Empowering our Communities initiative. The initiative is aimed at supporting farmers, their families, neighbours and local businesses to deal with the effects of drought.

Bushfire support

We continued to fund four psychology practices to deliver counselling support to anyone impacted by the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires in our region.

Our 2020-21 providers were: