Page 240 - Week 01 - Thursday, 12 February 2015
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I was pleased to recently announce the opening of the third round of healthy Canberra grants. Thirteen programs have been funded in the previous two rounds, including funding of over $500,000 to the Heart Foundation ACT to deliver the live lighter social marketing campaign, which uses mass media to increase awareness and motivate adults to be more interested in healthy eating, physical activity and a healthy weight range.
The Wirrpanda Foundation was funded over $450,000 for the “Deadly award” winning program Wirra Club which aims to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s health, particularly in relation to overweight and obesity, by improving eating habits and increasing physical activity. Our local ACT Medicare Local received over $500,000 for the connect up for kids program, which targeted the prevention of childhood obesity through the development of a connected, accessible and quality advice pathway for all families of kids aged between three and seven. There are some great examples of how the government is working in partnership with the community to tackle the real, serious and difficult problem of obesity in our community.
On my appointment as Minister for Health late last year, I made it clear that I want to be a strong advocate for improving mental health. Mental illness is still all too often associated with stigma and shame. People with mental illness face challenges in receiving the care and support they need and acceptance in our community. In 2012, as part of this government’s election commitments, we undertook to increase community mental health funding by $1 million a year for the life of this Assembly. Half of this funding goes to the government clinical community mental health service and the other half goes to the community sector and their provision of mental health services.
As a government we have also identified other mental health growth areas that will be progressively implemented through each budget. Last year we added a specific budget growth initiative for suicide prevention. In the most recent budget, the community clinical mental health services growth money was dedicated to the expansion of community child and adolescent mental health services.
We are applying this growth money in two areas. The first is in the perinatal and infant mental health consultation service, which provides assessment, diagnosis, treatment and referral recommendations to pregnant and postnatal women up to 12 months postpartum. The expansion and additional staff allow for outreach services that include facilitating emotional wellbeing groups and attachment-focused interventions within the community for mothers in these circumstances.
The second area is an additional clinical position in the eating disorders program which provides services to people of all ages who have complex eating issues. This clinical position focuses on the physical needs of clients, providing nursing, health assessments, ongoing monitoring, education and liaison between GPs and other health professionals.
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