A Message from the Chief Minister Introduction from the Minister for Social Inclusion Achieving Social Inclusion Safer Families Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander People Culturally and Linguistically Diverse People People with Disability Children and Young People LGBTIQ People Older People Supporting Disadvantaged People & Families Mental Health Law & Justice Education
Mental Health
Mental Health, Justice Health and Alcohol & Drug Services provide health services directly and through partnerships with community organisations.
On 1 March 2016, the ACT’s new Mental Health Act 2015 (the Act) came into effect, giving those in the ACT living with a mental illness, or their carers and family members, greater opportunity
to contribute to decisions on their treatment, care and support.
The Act, which replaced the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 1994, creates a fresh approach to service delivery and brings the ACT’s mental health legislation into line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with a Disability and the ACT Human Rights Act.
The Act is the result of years of consultation with people with lived experience of mental illness, together with their carers and clinicians, and is about empowering people in our community with mental illnesses and mental disorders to make critical decisions about their treatment, care and support to the best of their ability, and with the involvement of carers, close family and friends. It is also about helping them with self-management and optimising recovery.
The key principles driving the legislation create a legal environment geared toward supporting people in recovery from their illness, and providing the least restrictive care.
The services provided range from prevention and treatment to recovery and maintenance and harm minimisation. Consumer and carer participation is encouraged in all aspects of service planning and delivery. The Division works in partnership with consumers, carers and a range of government and non-government service providers to ensure the best possible outcomes for clients.
Services are delivered at a number of locations, including hospital inpatient and outpatient settings, community health centres, detention centres and other community settings including people’s home. These services include:
- ACT Wide Mental Health Services
- Adult Mental Health Services
- Alcohol & Drug Services
- Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services
- Justice Health Services
Through collaborative efforts with Government Directorates and community organisations and providers the Government delivers a range of programs and services.
- The secure mental health unit providing 15 rehabilitation and 10 acute beds is scheduled to open in August 2016.
- A new program has been established of early identification for children presenting with emerging mental health illnesses or disorders.
- Access to specialised services has been improved for patients at the Canberra Hospital by extending the operation of both the Alcohol and Drug and the Mental Health consultation and liaison services.
- More adult community mental health services have been provided including a local service for the Gungahlin region, additional intensive psychogeriatric care, a self-harm diversion service, expansion of the primary care team at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, and more in-home support for people experiencing acute mental health problems.
- The ACT Mental Health Consumer Network, Carers ACT and the Mental Health Community Coalition have received funding to ensure mental health consumers, carers and community organisations are represented in the development and delivery of mental health policy and services.
- A range of community sector services have received funding to assist mental health consumers and their families and carers to participate in the community, examples include: Barnardos Australia provide respite and holiday camps for children of parents with mental illness, Grow provide self-help groups and medium to long term psychosocial rehabilitation to people experiencing mental illness and Woden Community Service provides an adult mental health outreach service.
- The Government is cognisant of the mental health needs of detainees in the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC). ACT Corrective Services, ACT Health and Justice Health operate in conjunction with one another within the AMC to provide a continuity of quality care.
- The Extended Throughcare program delivered by ACT Corrective Services makes referrals to appropriate community agencies including the Mental Health Detention Exit Community Outreach program to provide post-release and wrap-around support for exiting detainees.
- The Corrections Psychological and Support Services (CPSS) Unit, established in 2013 works within ACT Corrective Services to ensure that there is adequate provision of recovery focused service delivery in partnership with ACT Justice Health. The CPSS model has been shown to assist Justice Health Services to stabilize detainees in the Crisis Support Unit (CSU), provide individually identified 1:1 support for CSU detainees, screen and assess cognitive functioning, and allow CSU detainees to exit in a timely and stable manner.
- Funded in the 2016-17 Budget, Mental Health Follow-up for Young People and Mental Health Intensive Rehabilitation is a new outreach service for children and adolescents and a Young Peoples Assertive Mental Health Treatment Team for young people who are at high risk of developing or are experiencing serious mental illness.
- The Government also committed through the 2016-17 Budget to design and construct accommodation to support people with mental health issues to recover and live in our community including an additional adult Step Up/Step Down facility on the southside with tenancy of up to three months.
- The Mental Health Detention Exit Community Outreach program has been expanded for a further year. This is a community mental health service providing short term intense transitional psychosocial support for individuals with a diagnosed mental illness, who are referred from ACT Forensic Mental Health Services, to support them re-engage with the community and to gain independence following release from involuntary institutional care and/or the criminal justice system, particularly the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Since 2014 this program has also supported people with severe mental health problems, who are clinically managed by the ACT Forensic Mental Health Service, and who have engagement with the justice system and live in the community. This program will be expanded with the existing community sector DECO provider working with the Forensic Mental Health Service to provide the treatment and short term support services required to assist people with severe mental health problems leaving the new ACT Health Secure Mental Health Unit.
- Additional intensive and specialised support for older people through the expansion of the Older Person’s Mental Health Community Team will also be provided.
