Royal Commission in Creswick

REGIONAL Victorians are disproportionately affected by poor mental health.

Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley held a regional roundtable discussion last week in Creswick to assist in the framework of the terms of reference for the Mental Health Royal Commission.

“Regional Victorians are over represented when it comes to mental health issues and under represented when it comes to the funding of those issues,” he said.

“If we are going to be serious about this the needs of regional Victorians have to be one of the many priorities of the Royal Commission.”

Ballarat and Grampians community members and representatives took the opportunity to comment and raise issues they felt pertinent to regional Victorians which should be included in the terms of reference.

“One in five Victorians experience mental illness every year, we know we don’t have all the answers to improve the system – only a Royal Commission will help us do that,” said Mr Foley.

“[These roundtable conversations] are about making sure we feed in the front-line experience of workers in the system, those with lived in experiences of mental health, and those who care for people with mental health issues are reflected in the work of the Royal Commission.”

Ben Kelly, Ballarat Health Services acting chief executive officer said, “We would like to participate in the future of mental health services across our region being able to meet the needs of our community and be able to provide the types of care and treatment that people require.

“One of the particular issues is the sheer distance.

“The people who have a mental health illness in remote parts of the state deserve to have the same access to mental health services as those who live in large regional centres or metro centres but the challenge of distance makes that very difficult to deliver in a timely way.”

Amongst the other participants at the round table were representatives from Ballarat Community Health, Headspace, Men’s Shed and the City of Ballarat.