What we know.

Following SA Health’s Unmet Needs Study, the MHCSA has begun looking at solutions to bridge this gap.

We have done this because the estimated annual investment of $125 million necessary to address this problem has yet to materialise, despite continual reports telling the Government to do so and the mounting evidence supporting community-based psychosocial support over hospital-based interventions.

The facts are clear…

• Evaluations of SA programs show they pay for themselves in terms of reduced hospital costs.
• SA’s Individual Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Support Program creates a 40% reduction in hospitalisations and a 16% reduction in length of stay.
• Not enough people are connected to psychosocial supports that would enable them to better manage their illness on a daily basis, overcome stressors in their lives and address other factors that can undermine their mental health.
• 51.4% Of people in metropolitan Adelaide receiving a psychosocial support program said it helped them avoid hospital admission. This is even higher in regional South Australia, with 60.7% of participants avoiding admission.
• Nearly 40% of Carers in South Australia are caring for a person who is accessing mental health services. (National Carer Survey 2022).
• A third of Carers in Salisbury rated their mental wellbeing as poor or very poor with over 70% not knowing where they can find support.
• Carers of people with mental ill-health face on average $144 per fortnight of additional costs to their personal income to look after a person in their care. (Mental Health Council of Australia, 2012, Recognition and Respect – Mental Health Carers Report).
• For Carers their barrier to finding mental health support includes cost, lack of time and insufficient respite services preventing participation in any wellbeing activities.
• Members of the South Asian Community identified significant stigma around mental health, with 81% never seeking professional support. Key barriers included fear of family and/or community judgment and lack of awareness.

The solution.

Communities in the Barossa Valley, Northern Adelaide and Salisbury told us that in order to address their mental health needs we need to go to them. Current models expecting people to find help assumes they know where to find it – and this is not necessarily the case.

In the Barossa and Northern Adelaide the solution was simple. Fund the unmet need to make psychosocial support available and then accept referrals from everywhere – including self or family referral. A key idea that emerged was to embed Peer Workers in GP practices so that those in need could find community based supports that sit alongside their mental health plans.

We then headed to Salisbury where the locals told us they want mental health supports that are accessible from places where they go. They wanted to find support in community places like libraries, community centres, in cultural groups and sporting clubs. This recognises that many people, particularly men and those from culturally diverse backgrounds, do not regularly access GPs and access mental health plans. There is stigma in some communities around mental health.

Our Ask: place NGO-employed Peer Workers within relevant council settings, GP practices to help people find the psychosocial supports they need. Ensure accessibility from community and clinical settings, and effective linkages to physical health care and social prescribing.

While we welcome the State Government’s recent investments in mental health crisis support, we continue to ask for a commitment to address the unmet need identified by their own reports.

Whether that is with peer workers at GPs, or in community centres – we believe we need to reach vulnerable groups where they are.

Your local Member of Parliament needs to hear from you. Here are some tips to help you with that conversation:

Writing them a letter or email is a great way to make contact with them.

If you want to have a meeting, call their office to make an appointment and make sure they know that you live in their electorate. They may ask for your address to confirm this.

For some tips and advice on how you can engage local Members in discussing mental health, watch our webinar here.

As an outcome, ask your local Member or Member of Legislative Council what they intend to do as a result of your meeting or discussion to improve our mental health system in South Australia.

If they want to find out more, encourage them to make contact with the MHCSA.

Sharing your own experiences with the mental health system – both positive and negative – is a great way to help the understand the importance of this.

If you are planning to share intense personal experiences, make sure you take care of yourself. In particular, detailing any trauma can be upsetting for yourself and the person you are sharing it with.

Please send us an email after your meeting, telling us who you met with, what action(s) they agreed to and if there are any issues or questions that we need to follow up.

To find your local Member of South Australian Parliament enter your suburb or postcode into the South Australian Electoral Commission website here.

Once you know your Electoral District, you can then look up the Member here.

You can also contact Members of Legislative Council who represent all South Australians. Find their details here.