Mental Health Matters – 6-4-22

Update from Naomi Malcolm, Primary Mental Health Programme Lead It has certainly been very busy in my workspace over the last fortnight.

We are getting ready to bring in a new referral process and are now just awaiting the revised Best Practice referral form to go live. As soon as a date is known for this, we will let you know.

The funding for Packages of Care is now being allocated by the PHO Mental Health team, to ensure the care is going to those who most need it. The number of referrals far outweighs our resources; there will be a high number of patients who will not be able to access Individual Counselling, please be mindful of this when referring and managing your patients’ expectations. However, we will be working hard to ensure that those referred receive information on community resources, and brief advice as appropriate.

Our group workshops are continuing via Zoom at this stage, but we are very hopeful for returning to face-to-face facilitation soon.

We are offering our next StressLess workshop out of business hours, as we have so many people who are unable to attend due to work commitments. We have a waitlist of those wanting these hours so will be trialling delivery at 5:30 to 7:30pm. We are hopeful of improved retention and attendance.

Our Social Worker, Violet Davidson, is available to work alongside General Practice with clients who have mild-moderate psychosocial issues. Violet is a qualified health professional who is available to see people individually to support and assist with a range of social situations in relation to the person’s mental health.

I understand that many practices are struggling with the number of people within our population who are presenting in emotional distress, please be mindful that we cannot offer Crisis or Urgent intervention for clients presenting with active suicidality. Clients with this level of distress requiring urgent input should be referred to the Crisis team or urgent referral made to Community Mental Health Services.

We are actively seeking increased resourcing for our service and ensuring the funding we receive is utilised in the delivery of care to our population.

We are hopeful that the roll out of the Health Improvement Practitioners (HIPS) and Health Coaches will improve the level of support available to our communities. In practices that have HIPs already, we have been able to work together to ensure the right level of intervention is being delivered in a seamless manner.

If you haven’t already made plans to welcome a HIP and Health coach into your practice, please start thinking about when you could. This workforce is a great resource for your patients and really does assist in closing gaps that exist in current services.

This fortnight I’d like to share a resource which may be helpful in your practice.

Click here for some great information from the Goodfellow unit titled ‘eating disorders: what to do when waiting for the referral’. This is especially useful for parents who often anxiously wait for services for their young ones.