Page 2909 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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Work is underway to procure a service provider for an early intervention service for eating disorders and to build the ACT’s first eating disorders residential centre. When I visited Queensland’s eating disorders residential centre recently, participants in their treatment program told me that the sense of belonging and connection that comes with peer support and group therapy is an important part of their recovery.
Each of these initiatives is important for the continual improvement of the ACT community’s mental health and wellbeing because they support the development of skills for better mental health and enhance the services that support our community when we most need it.
To ensure the improved mental health and wellbeing of our community, the ACT government recognises the impact of social determinants, such as housing, economic security, and living free from violence and abuse, on mental health. It is due to this understanding that the ACT government is currently undertaking projects such as a strategic analysis of accommodation and support needs of people with mental illness, and the development of collaborative and integrated approaches to assist people with both mental health and alcohol and other drugs disorders. Through undertaking projects such as these, the ACT government acknowledges that addressing the social determinants of health requires shared responsibility and collaborative action with partners beyond the health system.
A significant achievement nationally and in the ACT was the signing of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement, the National Agreement, with the commonwealth and other state and territory governments. The National Agreement sets out a national, integrated, system-level framework for mental health and suicide prevention reform and commitments between the commonwealth, state and territory governments.
Alongside the National Agreement, the ACT government and commonwealth government has also negotiated the ACT Bilateral Schedule, detailing local priorities and investment. The ACT Bilateral Schedule includes over $38 million of new co-funded investment in the ACT mental health sector, which will make a significant difference in the lives of people in the Canberra community. This investment includes: $6.25 million over four years to work towards universal aftercare services to support individuals following a suicide attempt and/or suicidal crisis, including enhancing and expanding existing aftercare supports and improving system integration across local prevention services; $1.91 million over four years to boost funding for the Early Intervention Service for Eating Disorders, which I mentioned earlier; $8.09 million over four years to commission a youth at risk program to address identified system gaps and unmet need. This will also contribute to delivering a territory-wide multidisciplinary response for young people who have experienced trauma or are at risk of developing mental illness, and is informed by the ACT Health Directorate’s scoping study of support needs for adolescents with trauma histories or complex needs; and $9.03 million investment in child mental health and social and emotional wellbeing to improve access to multidisciplinary care, informed by local co-design and based on the National Kids Head to Health hub model.
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