Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health welcomes the National Mental Health Commission's ‘Report of the National Review of Mental Health Programmes and Services'.
The majority of the recommendations in this expert and detailed national report, commissioned by the Abbott Government are worthy of consideration. It is crucial that the Australian Government works closely with the mental health sector, State governments and the Australian community to develop a blueprint to create or expand services which guarantee early intervention and better outcomes for people with mental ill-health and their families.
‘The NMHC report provides the Abbott Government and Australia the opportunity to reinvent our mental health service sector to ensure that every dollar spent will actually improve the lives of people with mental ill-health. Greater efficiency and investment growth are the twin pillars of a mental health system that is fit for purpose,’ says Professor Patrick McGorry AO, Executive Director of Orygen.
‘At Orygen we aim to maximise the positive impact that our work has on young people’s mental health and we support any reforms which enable this to happen. We look forward to working with Governments and consulting young people and the youth mental health workforce to establish a youth mental health system which equips services to deliver nationally consistent, best practice, evidence-based care,’ says Mr Peter Smedley, Chairman of Orygen.
We particularly welcome the recommendation that there be a focus on prevention, early intervention and assertive outreach services to reduce the need for people with mental ill-health to access emergency departments and acute inpatient services. Acute inpatient care has seriously declined in quality in recent years and must also be strengthened in parallel with much stronger and more proactive community care. Orygen wishes to see increased Commonwealth and State government investment to rebuild and expand community mental health care as proposed by the Commission, supported by growth funding from both jurisdictions working in partnership.
It is a sad indictment of the current system that people often ‘need to inflict serious physical harm (to themselves) to gain access to support’. It is even more of an indictment, that even in these situations sometimes support is not made available and that lives are frequently lost as a result. In light of this we welcome the report’s focus on early intervention, improving access to services for people living in regional Australia, and its strong focus on suicide prevention strategies.
It is encouraging to see the report’s focus on suicide prevention as a key action area for reform. Suicide is sadly the leading cause of death for people 15-44 years old. The impact of suicide on families, friends and communities is immense in terms of personal loss and grief. This is largely preventable. We require a comprehensive strategy with clear targets to reduce suicide and self-harm, and to tackle the even more alarming rate of suicide among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This will necessitate a major boost in investment.
Providing early intervention services for young people with mental ill-health has been well received by communities across Australia. Local headspace centres around Australia have become an invaluable focus and resource to communities wherever they have been established. They have begun to fill a huge gap in youth mental health care at the community level.
In line with Recommendation 9 of the report we believe due consideration should now be given to streamlining the national platforms supporting youth mental health to ensure that the maximum amount of resources can be deployed to frontline care, while safeguarding key central processes notably brand, contracting, evaluation and e-mental health, which require a nationally managed approach.
‘Renewal, streamlining and completion of the build of Australia’s crucial youth mental health system is a top priority. Orygen stands ready to work with government and the community to grasp this transformational opportunity,’ says Professor McGorry.
The review recommends the development of a National Mental Health Research Strategy. Orygen, supported by the Australian Government, is currently producing a National Research Priorities and Implementation Framework for Youth Mental Health that, when finalised, could make a significant contribution to the recommended overarching national strategy. We are committed to the rapid translation of research findings into frontline services to better deliver evidence-based clinical care in a nationally consistent way. Research is key to improving treatments for people with mental ill-health. The review recognises the value and importance of research in recommending a doubling of the share of existing and future allocations of national research funding over the next five years.
The review also identifies the need to build workforce capacity through improved education and training. Orygen, supported by the Australian Government is currently developing a National Youth Mental Health Strategy and Training Framework which will provide a road map for building the capacity of the mental health and peer workforces involved in providing care to young people with mental ill-health.
‘Australia is recognised as a world leader in mental health awareness, but there is a huge disconnect with the experience of people with mental illness. Investment in actual services has not kept pace with unmet need or community expectations. We now have the chance to redress this disconnect and provide the quality mental health care that Australians need and deserve,’ says Professor McGorry.
The Australian Government’s investment in establishing The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health demonstrates its commitment to promoting national leadership in the sector. Orygen is looking forward to working with Governments, and all sides of politics, to provide unified leadership to the youth mental health sector and promote the delivery of evidence-based care by an appropriately skilled workforce through a growing national system of youth mental health care.