Primary Mental Health Care

Mental Health

Mental health plays a key role in people’s overall health and wellbeing, and is important at every stage of life, from childhood through to adulthood. Mental health and wellbeing can be influenced by many factors - biological, environmental, cultural, physical, lifestyle and social factors. Mental health affects how we think, feel, act, work and play. The social determinants of health (housing, education, employment, and income) can all influence an individual’s mental health outcomes. Many of these factors can fluctuate over our lifetime, and play a role in shaping our mental wellbeing and creating an environment that supports our mental health.  

In country South Australia, approximately 81,000 (15.4%) people will require support from a mental health service. Among people requiring mental health support, 41,000 will do so for a mild mental health concern, 26,000 for a moderate mental health concern, and 14,000 for a severe mental health concern.

Timely access to mental health services is crucial for people who experience mental health concerns. This includes access to prevention and early intervention support, primary mental health care services and specialist mental health services that are joined up and coordinated.