Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mental Health Week is a vital opportunity to consider the social and emotional wellbeing of ourselves, our families, our loved ones and our community. It is particularly important because, for many people, mental illness is still the elephant in the room. In my electorate on the Central Coast, many local organisations will be out and about during Mental Health Week. Brisbane Waters Private Hospital is holding a mental health expo at Deepwater Plaza in Woy Woy on Thursday. The hospital CEO Kathy Beverley told me it will be mainly about kick-starting conversations. So what better way to tackle the elephant in the room than with an eight-foot inflatable elephant. I am not sure the elephant has a name yet, but I cannot think of a much better way to get people talking.

There are similar conversations happening at headspace in Gosford. Headspace is a fantastic organisation which works to reduce the impact of mental health and substance abuse for people aged between 12 and 25. Tomorrow is the first headspace day, marking a decade since this vital service was first funded by the federal government. Ten years on, I am pleased to see that mental health remains a top priority for the government, driven through our mental health reform package. We have guaranteed funding for headspace and will fund an additional 10 centres. Our reforms are aimed at providing a better targeted, accessible and effective service, strengthening care and suicide prevention with $192 million over the next four years. This is a bold, once-in-a-generation reform and I commend the government for highlighting this policy. (Time expired)

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