CORONAVIRUS — MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION
1191. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the parliamentary secretary representing the
Minister for Mental Health:
I refer to 2020–21 budget
paper No 2, volume 1, which states —
Western
Australians living in rural and remote areas of the State likely experienced
heightened risk of isolation and
loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic, which can contribute to a range of
mental health issues.
(1) What is the total royalties for regions investment
being attributed to non-capital spend by the Mental Health Commission in
2020–21?
(2) Will the
minister please table a breakdown of community support hours across WA by
region, for the following years —
(a) 2019–20; and
(b) 2020–21?
(3) Will the minister please table the community
groups funded by the $54.151 million for community service hours by
region and type of programs they offer?
(4) What work, if
any, is the Mental Health Commission undertaking to ensure that the high school
cohort of year 11 and 12 students in particular are supported during this exam
period and the pandemic?
Hon ALANNA
CLOHESY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) The Mental
Health Commission has $16.478 million approved
in 2020–21 from royalties
for regions funding for non-capital purposes. The table reflects the breakdown
by program.
Madam President, the table is
program by year, by dollars. I seek leave to have the response incorporated
into Hansard.
Leave granted.
The following material was
incorporated —
Program
|
2020–21$'000
|
North West Drug and Alcohol Support
Program
|
�6,500
|
South West AOD Residential Rehabilitation
and Treatment Services
|
�2,698
|
Step Up/Step Down Mental Health
Facilities:
|
– Bunbury
|
2,176
|
– Geraldton
|
1,635
|
– Kalgoorlie
|
�1,658
|
– Karratha
|
�1,811
|
Total
|
16,478
|
(2) (a) In total
293 604 hours of mental health support were delivered by Mental Health
Commission non-government organisation–funded
services in 2019–20. It is not possible to provide a breakdown
by region in the time allocated. I respectfully request the member put this
part of the question on notice.
(b) The breakdown
for 2020–21 is not yet available as reporting is required only on a six-month
basis, and is due in February 2021.
(3) It is not
possible to provide a breakdown by region in the time allocated. I respectfully
request the member put this part of the question on notice.
(4) The Mental
Health Commission funds the following mental health and alcohol and other drug
prevention services to support year 11 and 12 students.
The
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services emergency telehealth service
provides phone and online video call support for children and young
people who are experiencing a mental health crisis, as well as support and advice to families and carers and is
available between 8.00 am and 2.30 am, seven days a week. The service is
staffed by CAMHS specialists.
The Schools Response program is
provided by the Department of Education, Youth Focus Inc and the Department of
Health's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in partnership.
This program is delivered to the three school sectors and includes counselling
face to face, prevention, intervention and postvention. This program involves
the strengthening of inter-agency partnerships to support public and
non-government schools and young people; coordination and delivery of teen
mental health first aid; activation of the
inter-agency communication process to facilitate support for vulnerable
students upon the verification of a suspected suicide of a young person;
formalisation of a suicide postvention feedback and learning process to enable continuous improvement of service
coordination when responding to a suspected suicide in schools across
the systems and sector; updating and embedding the ''School Response and
Planning Guidelines for Students with Suicidal Behaviour and Non-Suicidal
Self-Injury''; Gatekeeper suicide prevention training, which is for
professionals or paraprofessionals whose roles bring them into regular contact with people at risk of suicide;
and teen mental health first aid training to increase awareness, reduce
stigma and encourage help-seeking in year 10, 11 and 12 students.
All
school staff and agencies interacting with youth at risk of suicidal behaviour
can access Gatekeeper suicide prevention
training. The ''School Response and Planning Guidelines for Students
with Suicidal Behaviour and Non-Suicidal
Self-Injury'' is available to guide and support schools in all three
education systems/sectors.
In addition, throughout COVID-19,
there has been, and continues to be, increased awareness of and access to
school psychology services by parents, students and staff through a mixed mode
of delivery, including consultation conducted through Webex and by telephone.
The School Psychology Service has introduced online services to parents and
students using telephone and online videoconferencing to provide a direct
service, and this option continues. Parents and teachers have access to mental
health and wellbeing information, services and support through the department's
Learning at Home website and Connected Learning Hub website. Support specific
to students during the exam period has been provided through the School
Curriculum and Standards Authority website, including links to supports for
mental health and wellbeing.
The PRESIDENT: Members,
questions need to be made concise. Perhaps you might think about answers as
well.