SANE Australia has called for the roll-out of a properly funded, comprehensive mental health strategy.
Executive director Barbara Hocking compares this to what the ALP and Coalition have offered so far …
A national mental health strategy must be appropriately funded and implemented — ensuring that everyone who needs help for mental illness will get treatment and support as early as possible, for as long as needed, and in the community where they live.
We need the federal and state governments to work together more effectively, to ensure that this help is provided as seamlessly as possible. We need co-operation across government departments so that needs such as housing, education, employment and justice are tackled together, not in isolation.
And it is fundamental to acknowledge that investment in mental health services is an essential suicide prevention strategy.
So, what is on offer so far from the two major parties in the 2010 election?
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the ALP plan: a loose grouping of services under the heading “Mental health: taking action to tackle suicide”. It has a price-tag of $277 million over four years. This is welcome news.
However, the annual cost of mental health services is over $4 billion a year, so the new funds equate to a timid increase of less than 3% per annum — roughly equivalent to a CPI increase.
Tony Abbott, meanwhile, has announced that the Coalition’s “Real Action Plan” would commit $1.5 billion to mental health over the same period, concentrated on youth services and “800 mental health beds”. This is welcome news.
However, the major focus on beds betrays an outmoded hospital-oriented mentality, ignoring the fact that mental health services are overwhelmingly provided in the community, and this is where increased funding is also urgently needed.
The vast majority of people with a mental illness rarely go to hospital, and then typically for a few weeks only. It is day-to-day care and support in the community that is required more than anything. The impressive billion-plus figure is also not “new” money, but funds taken away from other health programs that the Coalition would slash, including GP services and the important e-health initiative.
Meanwhile, the Australian Greens’ “National Health Plan”, which calls for a Minister for Mental Health and $350 million annually for mental health services is welcome; however, more detail is needed on how the funds would be allocated.
Croakey has been running an election health policy series — go here to read more about how the parties stack up.
I am a psychology student, and I have an understanding that mental illness will affect over half of the population in our lifetimes, and that we all know of at least one person who has suffered from mental illness in their lifetime. This suggests that, although at times mental illness can be a taboo topic, in which individuals can sometimes feel embarrassed discussing our mental health with others, that it is an important issue that should really require a more open discussion in order to understand it more.
Professor Patrick McGorry, voted Australian of the year 2010, holds vast insight into the mental health situation facing Australia today. He is a leader in founding an early psychosis intervention for young people, and also played an important role in mental health policy in the recent election. Professor McGorry believes that Australians see physical illness as a more immediate threat to human life than mental illness 2. Professor McGorry also believes that there is a current lapse in mental health services for your people. He understands that the mental health system is designed to meet the needs of chronic illness in young children and old people, and fails to help teens or middle aged adults. Considering that mental illness is of high risk in the 16-24 year olds who accounts for 26.4% and 25- 34 year olds accounting for 24.8% of mental illnesses, both these age brackets combined accounting for over 50% of mental illnesses 4. This astounding figure demonstrates that a more comprehensive approach into diagnosing and treating younger individuals suffering from mental illnesses is needed. He believes effective treatment should consider “smaller community based asylums” that provided a more nurturing environment for patients 2, 5. For which he estimates “several hundred million dollars would make a significant difference in the mental health sector”, which could be gained by redirecting the money from the building of one new hospital 2.
Jesse Tobin, from eclipse TV also noted that teenagers today have to deal with the pressures of study, university work, gaining an income, hormonal changes and body image issues, all of which previous youth did not have to deal with as early 3. He believes that this added pressure and ability to have a greater choice places unnecessary pressure on youth which could explain the higher rates of mental health in youth. As a teenager, I find this point important to note, when I have previously discusses my youth with my grandparents they have also noted that they had it so much earlier to the youth of today. Although, one feature of generations is that the differ from one another, I believe that the added pressure that teens face today makes me, and I’m sure many others want to rewind back a few generations!
Chris Tanti, the chief executive of Headspace Australia believes that headspace success is due to the fact ‘young people are involved’ in all decisions made and thus targets them successfully 5. Nicola Roxon, the federal health minister, also reaffirms that as headspace is a successful service for young people is the result of a very specific target audience of 12-25 year olds, they ‘are not like other health services’ and their well establishment within the health sector is the basic of government funding and addition promised finding will mean they are able to carry on their successful work 5.
Having considered the opinions of Professor Patrick McGorry and Chris Tanti the current labor government has promised to pledge $277 million into the mental health system in a four year programme 6. This programme will have s strong focus to decrease the suicide rates in men, accounting for 28% of deaths in the 20-24 age bracket alone, to increase support in communities and to decrease rates of depression 4. The labor government promises to 6:
• Increase funding to phone line company Lifeline, to take 700,000 extra phone calls per annum.
• to provide Outreach schools in rural regions of Australia to support children at risk of suicide
• to pay a particular focus on the high men suicide rate aiming to reduce this significantly
• to create a 5 or 10 year plan of metal health reform within Australia
• to create plans for electronic health records, to promote consistency in treatment
• to increase counselling services for 12,500 approx. individuals to deal with attempted suicides
• to increase psychiatry session by 20,000 to the community
• to increased assistance for severely mental ill
• to increase training to provide more counsellors in the work place of individuals
• to focus on youth mental health services as she recognised it as an ” area where further investment is needed”.
• Provide funding to open 10 new headspace centres in areas where mental illness is high.
Hopefully with the new governments strong focus on targeting mental health in Australia, in particular in young people, and in particular the success of opening new headspace centres, the country will see a decrease in mental illness in teens. According to Professor Patrick McGorry, early intervention with mental illnesses is incredibly important as it means illnesses can be treated quicker with fewer long term health effects on the individual. Additionally, he states that it’s “economically irresponsible not to fund early intervention strategies” 2. Let’s just hope the government sticks to their promises, and that mental health will become an openly discusses issue that is being dealt with efficiently and effectively.
References:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqB2cgCGbSc&feature=related
2. http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201003/r529517_3000247.asx
3. http://www.headspace.org.au/home/my-headspace/downloads/
4. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/mentalhealth/publishing.nsf/Content/10416BD24115D987CA25731E00123DEA/$File/MH%20stats%20factsheet%20April%2009.pdf
5. http://syn.org.au/program/below-line-election-2010-syn/episode/audio/2010/07/24/interview-federal-health-minister
6. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/gillard-announces-labors-mental-health-policy-with-plan-to-tackle-suicide/story-fn59niix-1225897375540