Page 217 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 February 2016
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These programs positively influence child health priorities such as child behaviour, language and literacy. Peri-natal mental health programs effect a positive influence on parental mental health, and minimise the likelihood of child abuse. The key service here in the ACT that specifically targets our young peoples’ mental health and wellbeing is the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, or CAMHS. This service essentially provides clinical and therapeutic mental health services for children and young people in the ACT.
The child and adolescent mental health redesign project was recently completed in 2012, and this led to a new model of care being developed following extensive consultation with stakeholders, including young people, carers, clinicians, senior managers, and was driven by contemporary evidence-based practice.
The model of care was implemented during 2014-15. This has seen a number of new services being delivered or established, including a new primary school mental health early intervention program, which will deliver the CAMHS and education early action program to primary school aged children; the commencement of open groups at the CAMHS cottage, a program to provide additional support for CAMHS young people; the introduction of e-mental health within CAMHS and the acquisition of iPads to assist with the delivery of therapeutic counselling sessions; and a staffing increase of five full-time health professionals to the peri-natal and infant mental health consultation service as part of the growth funding the government was provided in the 2014-15 mental health growth budget.
A new initiative as part of the 2015-16 mental health community growth budget is being established within CAMHS also focused on primary school aged early mental health. This program target is five to 12-year-old children with emerging mental illness or disorder. It will work in partnership with education and other community organisations, such as our child and family centres.
The key elements of the program are: the early identification and treatment of children presenting with emerging mental illness and disorder; mental health secondary consultation and in-reach into primary health services targeted at kids; and an early intervention school-based, group work program for primary aged school kids is under development with the education directorate and the Australian National University Research School of Psychology and its clinical arm.
The ACT government is also supporting current research into suicide in the ACT that is being undertaken by the ANU Medical School Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. Professor Bev Raphael is leading the research team and will be providing a research report by December this year.
We also have the mental health community policing initiative which provides mental health clinical expertise within the ACT Policing operations centre to assist police to work better with members of the public affected by mental illness. In the 2014-15 budget the government increased the initiative funding to enable specialised youth mental health expertise to be added to the resources available to police. Also as part of the most recent budget, there is now a coronial counselling service supporting
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