A new blueprint for mental health services in Australia

Australia will move towards a ‘stepped care’ model in stages over the next three years.
This will see Australians receive varying levels of primary care treatment and support depending on their level of need as determined by a health professional, whether that be ‘at risk’, mild, moderate or severe/complex.
This will shape the delivery of primary mental health services towards a more modern, flexible and nimble model of care, rather than the current “one-size-fits-all” approach.

For the first time, Australians with a severe and complex mental illness will also have access to an integrated care package tailored to their individual needs.
A package would see people identified by health professionals as having complex care needs eligible to access a package of integrated health services, including: comprehensive assessment and care-coordination support; psychological services; mental health nursing; drug and alcohol services; vocational assistance; and peer support.
These arrangements will be phased in over three years from early 2016-17, with initial trial sites to be identified during this current financial year (2015-16).

To successfully deliver a stepped care model it must be recognised there are individual needs and challenges that are specific to communities that do not always fit the one-size-fits-all model of service delivery run from Canberra.
What works in Brisbane may not work in Broken Hill. Service providers operating in Adelaide may not consider it viable to operate in in Albury.
The Turnbull Government will undertake a landmark shift in service delivery from Canberra to local communities through the 31 Primary Health Networks across the country.
PHNs will be put in charge of commissioning the mental health services they consider necessary and appropriate to the needs of their local communities, rather than them being contracted at a fragmented national level in Canberra.
For example, decisions about the youth mental health services required in a local community will now be made by that local community, not Canberra.
The Government’s reform package will include more than $350 million per annum that will be redirected from Canberra towards PHNs to deliver mental health services on the ground from 2016-17.
The funding will be made up of: ATAPS; Early Psychosis Prevention & Intervention Centres (EPPIC); Headspace service delivery (national office to remain); Mental Health Nurse Incentive Programme; Mental Health Services in Rural and Remote Areas; and various fragmented Suicide Prevention programmes.

A new approach to suicide prevention, co-ordinated by PHNs, focusing on evidence and community based suicide prevention activities to address local needs, and better integration with state and territory activities.

Harnessing innovative digital mental health technologies via a single entry point gateway. The gateway will navigate people to the most appropriate service for their individual needs.

An additional $85 million over three years to provide greater access to mental health services for Indigenous Australians.

A new single school-based initiative covering early childhood through the end of secondary school will be rolled out from July 1 2016.
The Mental Health in Education initiative will bring together several existing programmes to create a single comprehensive service available to children and young people in order to improve outcomes through better mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention.
This will include providing teachers and other staff working with children with training and resources to create a supportive environment and recognise, prevent or reduce the impact of mental health problems when they emerge.

Publications A new blueprint for mental health services in Australia