Page 3054 - Week 10 - Friday, 8 October 2021
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ACT government staff are all able to access psychological support through the Employee Assistance Program, which has continued to be a lifeline throughout the pandemic.
The mental health impact of the last two years is likely to have a long tail. We recognise that some people will continue to need extra support due to challenges over the past few years. That is why the ACT government has invested, across the forward estimates, in community-based mental health services.
Included in this commitment is our continued progress in delivering eating disorder supports in the ACT. The ACT government’s Eating Disorders Specialist Clinical Hub provides a central point of care, resources and expertise to provide timely treatment for people with an eating disorder. Since opening in July 2021, this has helped respond to the waiting list for the eating disorder program in the ACT through two service initiatives, the short-term recovery intervention for disordered eating—STRIDE—program, and parenting groups. We are also working hard to progress the ACT Eating Disorders Residential Centre, in partnership with the commonwealth government.
It has been a tough two years. As a community, we have experienced the stress of the bushfires and smoke, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended our usual life. For young people, the pandemic has interrupted life at a time that is all about growth, new experiences, connecting with peers, thinking about the future and contemplating who we are in this world. The unknown and the unpredictable are a cause of significant stress, and it is important that there are supports out there that can help young people and their families.
That is why the ACT government has boosted funding to community and mental health services and increased community awareness about support options, including $851,000 for CatholicCare’s youth and wellbeing program to provide a multidisciplinary outreach service that supports young people aged 12 to 25 years living with mental health concerns; $169,000 for Parentline, to provide more support for parents through phone referrals, counselling, face-to-face sessions and regular phone check-ins; and $7.5 million for youth mental health programs, of which $463,000 is for the MOST digital mental health program.
I also look forward to the launch of the Youth Navigation Portal on 19 October, providing online resources to help young people understand their mental health. Most importantly, the portal has a dedicated team of youth navigators who will work directly with a young person to help them find the right service.
Once again I thank Mr Pettersson for his motion regarding the mental health of young people in the ACT, and I wish all members of this place a kind, supportive and connected Mental Health Month.
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (5.03): What a change a day makes for the Labor-Greens government. I thank Mr Pettersson for bringing forward this motion. Maintaining mental health is critically important during this ongoing COVID-19
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