Interview - Afternoons on FIVEAA
LEITH FORREST, HOST: Let’s speak to the Minister, because some great news today in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, there are soon to be no appointment, no referral and no cost mental health clinics in one of South Australia’s highest demand regions. The employment minister is Amanda Rishworth. She joins me this afternoon. Minister, lovely to have you on. Thank you.
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Great to be with you.
LEITH FORREST: So, you got a couple of free walk-in mental health clinics coming in the southern suburbs there. I didn't realise it was of such a great need to the south, Minister.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Yeah, look, there has been a really big need in the southern suburbs. Particularly I think when you get to the outer metropolitan areas, there is obviously more often a need, but what we've seen in the southern suburbs is that higher demand coming from GPs. So, people are presenting to their GPs. And so, this is what's identified the southern suburbs as a really important area. So, two mental health clinics are being opened in about 12 months time. The first is a Medicare Mental Health Centre, and as you said that's going to be walk-in, you don't need an appointment and that's really important if someone's feeling very upset or distressed and needs to talk to someone straight away. It will be face-to-face, and that will be really important.
The other clinic that will be opened up which is also very important is a perinatal Medicare Mental Health Centre. And for your listeners, perinatal includes for the times before you give birth, during the time of the birth of a baby, and after. Postnatal depression is a really good example and that will be available for both women and men, because we know it affects both. So a really important specialised service that will also be available.
LEITH FORREST: Yeah. And you just need to read, sadly you, the news services from time to time to realise that these- unfortunately these kind of situations occur with people who are pregnant or due to have a baby or having a baby. It's a great point you raised about not having to book an appointment, Minister, because if someone's suffering from a mental health episode, it's not like you can just ring and book another time. It's almost, they need it immediately, don't they?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: That's exactly right. And if you think about someone that may have had a very distressing circumstance, having an- people describe it to me as they're spiralling, to be actually able to go in and get help um immediately is really, really important. And we know that there will be trained staff there as well, which I think is also really, really important, trained professionals to work with. Because there can be sometimes support you can get, but they may not have the training. And so having trained people, and it being free as well. So being free is really important and what we hope is- at the moment often when people are in that really distressed state they turn up to the emergency department, which is not the best place.
LEITH FORREST: No that's right, and then clogs that up and we have the issues there. So psychologists and social workers and peer workers there. I know this is part, isn't it, of the Federal Government's plan, I think 32-odd new or upgraded mental facilities. Do you think this this could almost be a canary in the coal mine, Minister, of see how these work and then maybe there's more for other areas of Adelaide?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well looking at how we get them close to where people live is really, really important. And so obviously we'll have- we're going to roll them out with expert advice and actually make sure there'll be 20 of our perinatal Medicare Mental Health Centres as well. So I think it is a model that we're developing up. There are some operating already and they're going very well, but I would say one of the challenges of course is making sure that you can get support no matter where you live. And I did want to let your listeners know that, even if you're not near one of these centres, just this year the Federal Government has launched um a telehealth service that actually can provide intervention support through some- someone to talk to, actually, via telehealth no matter where you live. So if anyone is looking for some help and they don't have access yet to one of these mental health centres I would encourage people to call 1800 595 212. And that just is the gateway to get a bit of extra support if they feel that they need it.
LEITH FORREST: Minister Amanda Rishworth is my guest. We look at numbers when these kind of things are announced, Minister. They're saying that you expect to provide around 6500 occasions of care. So that's great, isn't it? For the first 12 months of operation, there's a lot of people who are able to be assisted.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: That's exactly right. And a lot of people don't know where to go, and for that over 6,000 people in some instances they may be getting support, in others they are falling through the cracks. And so this is about making sure we're filling those cracks, and that's a large number. And when it comes to the perinatal centre, they're looking at around 800 occasions of new or expectant parents in the first 12 months of operation. And that is also really important as well, because parents at that time, I've been there, where you feel so alone at some times, and it may not have been the sort of experience you were expecting for mums and dads. And I really wanted to stress that, this is an issue for dads as well. Making sure that they do access support as early as possible is really critical, because whether it's your mental health that you would use the walk-in centre or whether it's the perinatal, if you leave these things for too long, they can really get more and more difficult and people find it harder and harder to be able to get their mental health back on track.
LEITH FORREST: Yeah. And the stats are damning. When you think about the amount of people going through pregnancy or early parenthood the statistics would say that one in five women and one in 10 men. That's a lot of people, Minister.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, it is a lot of people. If you think about that, 20 per cent of women are experiencing potentially depression or anxiety, and to a level that it's actually affecting them. And we know that that can have such an impact. It can have an impact on the relationship you're able to build with your baby, it can really lead to people, for example, disconnecting from their friendship or family circles. So, it can have some very long-term consequences as well. So, making sure people are getting the support as quickly as possible, and being really clear that there's somewhere to go. Importantly though, I think both of these services are free, and I think sometimes people- there are offers of private mental health and that's really important. There's private psychologists and other mental health professionals out there, but it does often come with a cost, and so that can be a barrier for some people actually accessing. So knowing there's a place to go where you can get free support is also really important for those that you know don't have perhaps enough money to pay out of pocket expenses.
LEITH FORREST: Are you building new buildings or have you got locations in mind?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, that will be certainly part of the co-design about whether a new building is needed. Certainly the atmosphere and the fit-out will be very much focused on how we support people. I was at headspace today, and they put a lot of effort to make sure it doesn't look like a hospital. It doesn't have a clinical setting, that it is looking very calming and inviting and welcoming. So whether we build a new building or not is, I think, still a question. But certainly how it feels inside, how welcoming it is and how much people feel that they're able to open up and talk will be a critical part of the design process, and making sure we get that right as they've done in headspace. We're not going to have bright lights, hospital beds because that just doesn't- that isn't the right atmosphere when we're trying to support people with their mental health.
LEITH FORREST: Yeah, sure. That makes sense, so you don't have that clinical feel. Thank you for your time this afternoon. Before I let you go, have you got a time frame? When are you expecting these to be up and going?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, obviously there's some work to be done in terms of co-design and getting the right, but most often once- from the announcement to operational is usually about 12 months. So, we hope these will be up and running in 12 months time.
LEITH FORREST: Alright. Look forward to it. Thank you, Minister. Great news for the people in the south and anyone who needs these services. All the best. Amanda Rishworth is the Employment Minister.