Mental Health Carers NSW (MHCN) has welcomed the recent ABC Four Corners documentary for highlighting the serious gaps in our mental health system but urges stronger inclusion of the voices of people with lived experience, their families, and carers. MHCN cautions against media portrayals that stigmatise mental health consumers as dangerous and emphasises that true reform must be co-designed with those who use the system as well as their families and carers.

Currently our mental health system focuses on short term crisis care. But if you only provide crisis care, you will have a lot of crises. The heavy lifting of mental health recovery is done when people are well enough to focus on exploring new ways of coping and learning different strategies that work for them. This kind of support is delivered by community therapy and rehabilitation services, but NSW provides the lowest funding for community mental health services in Australia per capita.

The only way to manage the demand for Emergency Department (‘ED’) services is to properly invest in community mental health services that can help people avoid crisis and cut demand for the ED. Otherwise ED presentations can become a revolving door, placing huge pressure on both ED staff, the person experiencing mental distress and their families.

Four Corners raised the issue of people unable to access adequate care as being a potential risk to others, with reference to the Bondi Junction attack. MHCN acknowledges that this is a problem, but linking this to the Bondi incident was sensationalist and could increase stigma and divert attention from the biggest risks, which are always to the person experiencing mental health issues themselves.

Despite the challenges, MHCN remains committed to working with the Mental Health Alliance and the Minister for Mental Health, Hon. Rose Jackson, to strengthen community care and build the “missing middle” of mental health services in NSW.

Read the full media release here – https://buff.ly/CtpSBPC