News

Background – Orygen Report

Nov 01, 2016

The Orygen report brings together and highlights a number of concerns in relation to youth that most of us working the area have been acutely aware of and working on for some time.

The report talks about building on the existing work and the already strong commitment of the service sector moving forwards.

It is worth noting that suicide is an end point and that there are many, varied and complex layers that lead to this end point

Research tells us that the social determinants of health play a key role in the success of a young person’s life and these determinants lay across many sectors, depending largely on equity of choice and environment.

To this end the community and Government have invested resourcing into the early years including such initiatives including the Best Start Programme, the Child and Youth Area Partnership, MDAS Early Years and Hands Up Mallee.

In regard to early intervention, MBH Mental Health along with other area mental health services, have received additional funding. MBH Mental Health has introduced additional staff in our Child and Youth teams to assist the community, schools, Child Protection Unit and at-risk children and also increased medical staff staffing in our Child and Youth area.

MBH is the lead agency for headspace in Mildura, and in line with the Orygen Report, MBH and headspace work closely at building a mental health platform that is responsive to the needs of youth.

This is not just as a tertiary and/or primary response but across the whole system of care and more work is being done in preparation for changes during 2018 that will enable us to move away from a national model to a more localised model.

Mental health professionals recognise that there are vulnerable groups within the community, such as LBTI and our Aboriginal community.

Headspace has an LGBTI group and recently held intensive training through Starr Lady and the Rainbow Network for headspace and Mental Health clinicians in and around the issues facing the LGBTI community including the over representation of suicide in that group.

MBH Mental Health services are also working very closely with MDAS and their social and emotional wellbeing team, within a trauma-based model recognising the continued impact of intergeneration trauma on Aboriginal young people and their families.

Opportunities for reciprocal training are occurring and staff meet regularly to ensure there is a seamless model of care to young Aboriginal people wherever they present.

MBH Mental Health services have been working closely with the local PHN, which has a major role to play in suicide prevention and in the primary health sector. Currently the PHNs are in a transitory phase of determining local need and prioritising accordingly.

Part of this work is in developing Mental Health pathways for primary providers to ensure a timely and appropriate response to those in need.

PHN also has funding for the national suicide prevention framework and as Mildura has been chosen as a pilot site and MBH Mental Health services is working closely with the PHN and the community to ensure the effectiveness of this pilot.

However, the service sector cannot do it alone and we need our local community to become involved in a developing active and comprehensive responses that are effective for our community and issues.