Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to bring to the attention of the House two significant events related to mental health that recently took place in my electorate of Calwell. The events coincided with Mental Health Week, which ran from 10-16 October, and World Mental Health Day, on 10 October, and marked significant initiatives which will determine how mental health issues are prevented, and indeed treated, in my electorate of Calwell over the coming years.

The first launch was the ABC plan, or the ‘Act-Belong-Commit’ campaign plan, which is aimed at promoting a mentally healthy Hume and Moreland, and the other was the opening of the Broadmeadows prevention and recovery centre. The ABC plan places an emphasis on connecting to the community, while the Broadmeadows centre is part of an $11 million federal Labor government investment to open three similar centres that will change the way mental illness is approached in Melbourne’s north-west.

Mental health is a serious issue and it has risen to prominence in recent times, partly because of the very good work of Australian of the Year and mental health advocate Professor Patrick McGorry. I recently had the opportunity of catching up with Professor McGorry in Melbourne, where I had the opportunity to discuss mental health issues with him both in general and also as they relate specifically to my electorate of Calwell.

The two launches in my electorate were significant indicators of the heightened awareness of mental health issues and how this awareness is translated into the community. Key issues that emerged from the launches focused on the importance of preventative mental health care, encouraging an active connection to the community and, of course, easing social isolation. The ABC plan developed by Curtin University of Technology, in Western Australia, was originally inspired by the Victorian Together We Do Better campaign, with a view to making the ABC Hume and Moreland plan one of the first pilot programs in Australia. The ABC plan shows beyond any reasonable doubt that social connectedness is one of the most powerful determinants of our wellbeing. The more integrated we are with our community, the less likely we are to experience illnesses which range from the common cold to more serious and debilitating illnesses such as heart disease and depression.

Mental health professor and guest speaker at the ABC launch, Professor Tony Jorm, said that, of the 109,000 people over the age of 16 in the city of Hume—and indeed my electorate of Calwell—about 22,500 would suffer mental illness. Professor Jorm said that our area had a higher rate of certain mental health risk factors: we have more young people, greater unemployment and more people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. He also said that the area’s large population of people from non-English-speaking backgrounds sometimes came from cultures where mental illness is more stigmatised, making it harder for them to seek help and to talk about their conditions.

Calwell is home to 132 diverse cultural groups, who are often unaware of the services available to them. The ABC plan responds to this as part of addressing a 2008 report from North Western Mental Health. The plan aims to remedy the situation by involving 20 agencies including the Hume City Council and Dianella Community Health to help make communities more proactive in this area.

Furthermore, the 2008 Victorian Population Health Survey released this month found that my electorate had the highest proportion of self-reported psychological distress in the state. The opening of the Broadmeadows prevention and recovery centre last Thursday is crucial to addressing this issue. The opening of the centre came about as a result of a partnership between the North West Area Mental Health Service and Mind, which is an organisation which focuses on helping people manage their mental illness. The centre’s services are often referred to as ‘step up/step down’ programs because they allow for different levels of mental health care ranging from preventing mental relapses to short-term intensive residential programs.

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the importance of the federal Labor government’s promise to invest $276.9 million over four years to provide more psychology and psychiatry services and community support, to invest more in direct suicide prevention and crisis intervention and to promote good mental health in young people.

Both initiatives are to be commended for recognising that social inclusion and connectedness are fundamental to maintaining good mental health. (Time expired)