Page 4366 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 13 October 2009
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can see that the supported hospital exit program is a crucial program in the suite of care that we can provide and offer to both the person suffering from a mental illness and their family and carers.
I would like to offer my congratulations to all those people who worked so hard for Mental Health Week, many of them of course behind the scenes, and I commend them for their efforts. It was a highly successful week of events and I noted, as I went around the various events, that they were well supported by the community. I also noted that the media interest was very positive, showcasing this government's commitment, efforts and successes and I am very pleased about that.
Once again, my congratulations go to the organisers and participants of a very successful Mental Health Week 2009. It is events like this that reconfirm the strength in partnerships between government and community, and this is something that the ACT government will continue to foster and support.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Treasurer, Minister for Health, Minister for Community Services and Minister for Women) (3.43): I would like to support the speech that was just given by Ms Porter, who spoke about the events of last week, Mental Health Week, of which I participated in, I think, at least three.
Mental illnesses and the people living with them continue to be misunderstood and too often become victims of stigma and discrimination. Indeed, a lot of the events that were on in the past week were about seeking to reduce the effects of stigma across a whole range of mental health illnesses. Illnesses such as anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are leading causes of family disruption and even suicide. These illnesses are also significant contributors to the global burden of disease.
I, too, would like to extend my thanks to everyone who organised and contributed to Mental Health Week events for their initiative and innovation that made the week a very big success. I was pleased to be able to officially launch two new mental health frameworks at the launch of Mental Health Week, which Ms Bresnan attended—“building a strong foundation: a framework for promoting mental health and wellbeing in the ACT 2009-2014”, and “managing the risk of suicide two: a suicide prevention strategy for the ACT 2009-2014”.
These frameworks reflect the recognition that a whole of government approach is required for the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. The work that has gone into these frameworks reflects the collaboration between many government departments and indeed community organisations, who have all worked together to develop new frameworks and who have all agreed to implement and report on progress on actions to ACT Health.
The key action areas of the building a strong foundation framework are to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of the whole community; support children, youth and families; enhance services to those with co-morbidity issues and/or who have received care in closed settings; and enhance the social equities and reduce the social inequities that influence mental health and wellbeing.
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