A Senate committee has heard of long wait times for young people to access psychological services as it explores access to mental health services in regional Tasmania.
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The committee held a hearing Devonport on Wednesday as part of its broader investigation into service access in rural parts of the country.
Cornerstone Youth Services chief executive David O’Sign said there were issues in finding general practitioners who bulk-billed and could initially treat mental health problems so as a patient could be referred on to a psychologist or psychiatrist.
He said there were typically waits of between three to six months for a young person to access a professional psychological assessment and receive treatment recommendations.
headspace has sites in Launceston and Devonport.
It receives $970,000 in federal funding for the Launceston office, $366,000 for the Devonport office, and $921,000 in funding for Primary Health Tasmania for an intensive outreach program where workers go out and find at-risk youth who need assistance.
headspace centre manager Wayne Frost said fortunately there were four GPs that operated out of the Launceston site; two of whom which had long backgrounds in youth health and mental health but they were close to retirement age.
He said the biggest issue for headspace was an increase in demand which exceeded supply so there was a need to manage intake.
Mr Frost said the Launceston office serviced 1495 young people last year which was near double the national average of 835 clients per site.
“We’re at a point where we feel we are at breaking point,” he said.
Mr Frost said there were between 20 and 30 young people on a counsellor waiting list in Launceston at any one time and 15 in Devonport.
Youth, Family and Community Connections chief executive Ros Atkinson said people in the North-West had to wait six months for a psychologist after they had a mental health plan prepared by a GP
She said Tasmania had the country’s second highest suicide rate and the rate was higher in the North-West and West Coast than the state’s other regions.
Ms Atkinson said infrequent public transport services caused barriers in linking people from regional areas to mental health services as well as confidentiality issues and stigma within small communities.
The committee will visit St Helens on Thursday.
Rural Alive And Well (RAW) representatives will speak at the hearing.
In a submission, it said that it was unlikely that the mental health needs of rural communities could be met or afforded by attracting full-time professionals to live in the area or through a cycle of visiting part-time professionals.
Instead, the organisation said there needed to be a network of peer workers developed who could link community members to clinical service providers
“These workers should be selected for their capacity to engage with isolated individuals,” it said.
RAW acknowledged, however, the creation of pathways for patients was a challenge despite efforts for more collaboration across government and non-government services.