Health and wellbeing hub open

THE refurbished Cooinda Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub is now open in Wendouree.

The health and social service centre at 10 Learmonth Road is worth $3.3 million, originally funded by the State Government in 2017.

It has been designed to help a growing local population access counselling, family violence support, children’s assessments and more, closer to come.

The facility will be driven by Ballarat Community Health. The organisation’s CEO Sean Duffy said they’re proud of the updated space.

“The Cooinda building will facilitate the delivery of highly valued services to the local community and will strengthen the mental health services for our region,” he said.

Officially re-launched last week, the space was opened by Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Mental Health, Steve Dimopoulos.

“We know that mental health can impact all Victorians, no matter where they live,” he said.

“That’s why we’re implementing all the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, to improve access to services across our great state.”

Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison thanked Ballarat Community Health for leading the project and running Cooinda’s services in this new era.

“This $3 million investment into mental health services in the heart of Wendouree will provide a broader range of services closer to home,” she said.

Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle said access to mental health support is “critical.”

“We are making that happen for our region,” she said.

Cooinda’s State funding was part of a broader $5.8 million boost to community health in 2017.