More money for mental health

MENTAL health services are the biggest winners in this year’s Victorian budget with more youth-based facilities set to be built or upgraded in regional areas.

Acting Premier and Minister for Mental Health James Merlino said approximately $6 million will be put towards the complete refurbishment of the Bendigo Youth Prevention and Recovery Care Unit as part of a $141 million spend on Y-PARCs across the regions.

“The [Mental Health] Royal Commission made a recommendation that we need one Youth-PARC in each of our eight regions across Victoria so that means we need to build five new Youth-PARCs and upgrade three,” he said.

“It’s fair to say that [the Bendigo Y-PARC is] not fit for purpose. The priority within the Royal Commission is that these Youth-PARCs need to be home like settings.

“This is a great facility, but it’s not a home like setting.”

Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan said the site’s refurbishment means young people from the region requiring mental health support can get it closer to home.

“This investment means more young people will be able to receive treatment and care close to their family, support networks and local community which we know contributes positively to clinical and personal recovery,” she said.

Construction on the site, which provides short term accommodation and support to around 200 young people aged 16-25 years old annually, is expected to commence later next year and be completed in 2023.

Existing Y-PARCs in Dandenong and Frankston will also be upgraded, while the five new sites will be built in the Melbourne North Eastern Metropolitan, Barwon South-West, Gippsland, Grampians and Hume regions.

The total $700 million estimated investment into the regional mental health system makes up a wider $3.8 billion spend on a decade-long reform of the sector across the state, which Mr Merlino said has failed regional Victorians.

“You’ve got to go back a couple of decades. We had deinstitutionalisation which was the right call but what we didn’t do, and this is successive governments over decades and decades, what we didn’t do is provide the support in the community,” he said.

“Regional Victorians know this more than anyone else; an overburdened system, a chronically understaffed system, and [a system] where some people have to drive hours and hours for care.”

The big spend will be funded by a mental health and wellbeing levy to be applied to businesses with payrolls over $10 million from 1 January.

The State budget also includes support for young children through a School Mental Health Fund.

“Schools will be able to choose from a menu of evidence-based initiatives that we know make a difference,” he said.

“It could be mental health training for staff, it could be therapy dogs, it could be the positive education model, it could be arts therapy or it could be the direct employment of additional mental health practitioners for a school’s wellbeing team.

“In 2022… every single government school in rural and regional Victoria will have access to this fund and then metropolitan Melbourne will roll out from 2023… and 2024.”