Mental Health Month
October is Mental Health Month with Thursday 10 being World Mental Health Day. This year’s theme for Mental Health Month is: It’s time to talk about mental health.
As a general practitioner and the Chair of Country SA PHN, Mental Health Month brings into sharp focus what this means for our communities. How do we encourage discussions about mental health or start the conversation when you may be worried about someone you care about?
Sharing stories and encouraging people to seek professional support can make all the difference. GPs are in a good place to listen and help to find a mental health professional and can explain what options are available in our local communities to provide support.
We also know that human connection is a powerful tool and finding places for connections are so important for mental health. Often people feel more comfortable talking to a friend or loved one than a GP when they are going through a tough period and their mental health is being challenged.
The quickest way to talk to someone when you feel “It’s time to talk about mental health” is our Head to Health Phone service. It not only assists GPs to find the right level of care by assessment and referral for their patients but is also available for people to call in and receive initial support and referral to a service that matches your need in country South Australia.
Country SA PHN funds a myriad of mental health services. We are pleased to provide enhanced access (some are available 24/7) and mixed modalities (online, phone or face to face), some you can even walk into without an appointment. But the easiest way to find a service near you is to call our Head to Health phone service on 1800 595 212. For health professionals the Head to Health phone service works as a national intake and assessment phone service to promote consistent triage and enable transfer and referral to the most appropriate services. The Head to Health intake service provides a single-entry point into and between all community mental health services. As a general practitioner I can call the Head to Health phone service with my patient to ensure that they can receive access to the most appropriate support service.
This Head to Health phone service operates alongside Medicare Mental Health centres (formerly known as Head to Health centres) which provide short to medium treatment services. Country SA PHN funds a Medicare Mental Health Centre in Mount Gambier (formerly known as Head to Health) and provided by FocusOne Health. Country SA PHN is pleased that a second centre for country South Australians is now open for in-person service in Port Pirie. This centre will be delivered by Neami National.
Medicare Mental Health Centres remove traditional barriers to accessing mental health support with no appointments or referrals required assisting people to reach out for help when they need it. The centres offer adults a friendly welcoming environment to access on the spot care, advice and support during times of distress or as mental health needs emerge.
Country SA PHN also fund Lifeline Connect Centres in Clare and Port Pirie. Provided by Lifeline Regional SA and Far West NSW, Connect is an early intervention model for suicide prevention. There are no specific criteria to attend the Lifeline Connect Centre. Lifeline counsellors can be accessed by anyone without a referral or a mental health diagnosis and at no cost to the community - removing traditional barriers to accessing assistance.
To assist our communities to be able to listen and create a safe space for someone to talk, we provide free online training for country South Australians through Question, Persuade, Refer training – three steps anyone can learn to help prevent suicide. This training can provide everyone with the knowledge and skills to identify warning signs that someone may be suicidal, the confidence to talk about suicidal thoughts and the knowledge to connect them with professional care.
As part of Mental Health Month, we also acknowledge headspace day on October 9. Young people need tailored support, and headspace is a trusted space providing an enhanced primary mental health care model, with a focus on early intervention and prevention for young people aged 12-25 who are at risk of, or experiencing, mental health issues. Country SA PHN is proud to fund headspace centres right across country South Australia in Port Lincoln, Port Augusta and Whyalla (provided by Country and Outback Health), Berri (FocusOne Health), Mount Gambier, (Uniting Communities) Victor Harbor, Murray Bridge and Mount Barker (iReach Rural Health). Country SA PHN is thrilled that there is a current tender for a service provider to deliver a headspace centre in Gawler. This will provide much needed mental health services and connections for the young people of Gawler and surrounds.
There are also many innovative ways Country SA PHN is offering mental health support. The following services come to mind:
Country SA PHN funds telephone and online mental health support services that may encourage people who do not want to access face to face or in our rural and remote communities don’t have access to in person services. These services also provide a level of anonymity for those who may want it, and this is particularly relevant in small rural communities. Regional Access offers 24/7 free professional telephone and online counselling for regional South Australians feeling the pressures and stresses of everyday life. It’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people 15 years and older living or working in regional South Australia. A referral is not required, so people can reach out when they need to and when is convenient.
Gender Connect Country SA is a free service for transgender, gender diverse, or gender questioning people living or working in country South Australia (and their supports including teachers, doctors, nurses or parents) to connect with a Peer Support Worker.
Gender Connect Country SA is a completely confidential service offering support from workers with lived experience of gender diversity and is provided by SHINE SA.
Country SA PHN has funded MATES in Construction for five years, growing from a pilot to access the hard-to-reach male cohort and to build the capacity of regional, rural, and remote communities to recognise and respond to suicide. MATES has delivered more than 300 suicide prevention training sessions, reaching 4,800 workers in regional South Australia and is now expanding into other industries across country South Australia.
Country SA PHN is funding a Grant under the Targeted Regional Initiatives for Suicide Prevention. Grants of up to $20,000 were awarded for initiatives to enact community-based priorities that play a role in preventing suicide and designed specifically to benefit those living in regional communities. We look forward to following the great work these organisations are doing and the positive impact these initiatives will have for country South Australians.
The good news is that there is even more that Country SA PHN is supporting and funding in mental health support right across country South Australia. To find out more please go to our Primary Mental Health Care web page. It is ably driven by the Country SA PHN Mental Health and AOD team led by Executive Manager Chez Curnow and supported by a team of dedicated and passionate professionals. I thank them for all that they do to support the mental health of all country South Australians and I call on us all to equip ourselves to have conversations with compassion and empathy. We all have a role to play. After all It’s time to talk about mental health - not just this month but every day.
If this article has raised personal concern, please contact any of the above or below services:
- For immediate medical assistance in an emergency always call Triple Zero (000) and ask for the ambulance.
- Mental Health Triage Service for non-life-threatening mental health emergencies, phone the 24/7 Mental Health Triage Service 13 14 65.
- Lifeline (24 hours) Phone 13 11 14 for immediate support. Lifeline online counselling (6.30 to 11.30 pm, South Australian time).
- Regional Access for telephone and online counselling 24/7 for people 15 years and older living or working in regional South Australia – 1300 032 186.
- Head to Health Phone service for mental health assessment and navigation - 1800 595 212.
- Kids Helpline (24 hours) Free counselling for people aged 5 to 25 years. Phone 1800 55 1800 or access help online from Kids Helpline online counselling.
Published on: October 4, 2024
Last updated on: October 8, 2024
