Last month saw industry leaders gather at SACOSS for the MHCSA Sector Leaders Forum, with discussions focused on the release of the State Budget 2023 – 2024, industry concerns around indexing, unmet needs, workforce development and SA Health priorities for mental health strategy and planning.
MHCSA Executive Director Geoff Harris spoke of the new state budget as a missed opportunity to address South Australia’s unmet need for community psychosocial support services. With no new announcements in mental health, the sector’s attention is now on the findings of the South Australian Government Unmet Needs Report to be released shortly, as this is the first time the unmet need for psychosocial support has been quantified in such detail.
Industry leaders flagged consistency of indexation as a critical issue, stating that with wage costs sitting at approximately 80% of organisational budget, hours of service delivery will ultimately decrease if funding does not increase. The timing of notification and receipt of indexation is also problematic.
Other issues raised included defining the need for supported decision making separate from diagnosis, mindfully addressing power imbalances between clients and services, the complex needs of service recipients and a lack of support, and what would be considered complimentary for the MHCSA to work on in this space.
An update on the development of the Course in Mental Health Recovery Work led by the MHCSA was presented. This project aims to address industry requirements for staff to be able to work safely from day one as an NDIS Psychosocial Support Worker, as to date, specialised qualifications are not required by the NDIA to undertake this role. Mapped to the NDIS Capability Framework and NDIS Recovery Framework, the course has been designed to complement their systems, and it is hoped that the NDIA will see the value of this practical approach to bringing recovery knowledge into practice. With a requirement of 20 hours of placement included, benefits of the course were presented for getting entry level mental health support workers in jobs quickly. From there, if they are seeking to gain knowledge it creates a solid platform to ‘earn as they learn’ to complete a full Certificate IV in Mental Health or Mental Health Peer Work. For employers it will potentially provide an additional recruitment pathway for staff without qualifications.
Liz Prowse, Executive Director, Mental Health Strategy and Planning for SA Health, provided an overview on priority areas for the Department, including a refresh of the SA Mental Health Services Plan targeting specific age groups especially early years services. Noting an increase in prevalence of eating disorders nationally, Liz announced that MHCSA and DHW are hosting a workshop on services, supports, treatments and future plans for eating disorders in July.
Regarding learning and development, Liz flagged a need to look broadly across the sector and to consider partnerships and collaboration, and provided updates on the Youth Mental Health Model which has been drafted and is ready to rollout, as well as the Older Persons in Mental Health Plan, which highlights older persons living in rural, regional and remote areas as facing the biggest gap in service delivery for this cohort.
The SA Lived Experience Workforce Framework has been completed and will be circulated soon. The NGO Redesign underway, however Liz noted that the current tender process does not mark the end of the redesign.
The National Partnership Agreement on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention with the Commonwealth is under renegotiation but there is nothing new to report in agreement at this stage.
