ARARAT will receive funding for a locally based mental health service in this year\u2019s state budget.<\/p>\n
The Andrews Government has included Ararat in 21 locations for a Local Adult and Older Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing Service.<\/p>\n
The government said the service is a new model of care that will see Victorians get the mental health support they need, as soon as they need it, close to home.<\/p>\n
Member for Western Victoria, Jaala Pulford, said the local services will act as a \u2018front door\u2019 to the reformed mental health system, providing early intervention support for adults experiencing mental illness or psychological distress without needing a referral from a GP, and before people need clinical hospital emergency department.<\/p>\n
Set to open from mid-2023, the new Ararat based Adult and Older Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing Service will service key priority areas for support across the wider region.<\/p>\n
The announcement of a new mental health service in Ararat builds on the six services previously announced and already preparing to open their doors and start providing care in 2022 in Benalla, Latrobe Valley, Frankston, Brimbank, Whittlesea and Greater Geelong.<\/p>\n
Ms Pulford said by the end of 2026, up to 60 local services will open across the state \u2013 connecting Victorians to the care they need in their own communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe aren\u2019t wasting a moment getting on and building the mental health system the Ararat region needs and deserves,\u201d Ms Pulford said.<\/p>\n
The Victorian Government said it has made significant progress into the landmark reform of the state\u2019s mental health and wellbeing services, with work underway on more than 85 per cent of the 74 recommendations made in the Royal Commission into Mental Health.<\/p>\n
East Grampians Health Service Chief Executive, Nick Bush, said a dedicated mental health service for the Ararat region will be a huge benefit for the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to have the opportunity to have a wellbeing centre prioritised by the state government for Ararat and we look forward to the services coming to Ararat and creating services in a much needed area,\u201d Mr Bush said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny investment in mental health and having it locally led is going to meet the needs of the local community in an improved way than what it has at the current time. I applaud any investment in mental health services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Expressions of interest to run the new service will be called for once the funding is confirmed in the May state budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the expressions of interest are circulated and advertised about what sort of requirements there are and what sort of services are to be provided that\u2019s when we would make a decision about whether we (EGHS) would apply to operate the service,\u201d Mr Bush said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ARARAT will receive funding for a locally based mental health service in this year\u2019s state budget.
\nThe Andrews Government has included Ararat in 21 locations for a Local Adult and Older Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing Service.
\nThe government said the service is a new model of care that will see Victorians get the mental health support they need, as soon as they need it, close to home.
\nMember for Western Victoria, Jaala Pulford, said the local services will act as a \u2018front door\u2019 to the reformed mental health system, providing early intervention support for adults experiencing mental illness or psychological distress without needing a referral from a GP, and before people need clinical hospital emergency department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[31],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Nick-Bush-Dec-2021-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-d0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}