Do you think there is enough mental health support for people in Goldstein after Covid, if not, how will you add to it?

This is a particular interest of mine. We are very supportive of the headspace youth mental health program.

We recently invested an additional $849,000 in headspace Bentleigh to reduce wait times and help young people access the support they need.

COVID-19 has highlighted the need to ensure robust mental health services.

The Covid lockdowns caused great stress across the whole community and has caused governments to support mental health.  Whilst I support this I also think the Covid response that kept kids out of school for so many days caused many of the mental health issues.  

Unfortunately, mental health services have been hard to access since before covid, and the pandemic has increased the need.

In 2010 we made dental care for kids free. Now we are pushing to have mental health (and dental care) part of Medicare so everyone can access these services for free, no matter how much money they have.

We also need to train more specialists in these areas so people, particularly young people, don’t have to wait too long to get the help they need. 

Too many people in Goldstein are finding it difficult to pay for housing and earn enough money to cover basic daily costs.

These stresses are not good for our mental health, so these issues need to be addressed too.

While Labor's mental health policies so far have been focused on regional services where mental health support is less available I would point to the massive investment by the Victorian Labor Government into mental health services in the wake of the Victorian Mental Health Royal commission. The funding for dedicated school mental health faculty is something I am very happy to see, with my school, Sandringham Secondary being one of the first to trial the program. I would look to engage with the State Government to ensure services fit the needs of people in Goldstein but also look at how the successes of the state program can be adapted nationally. 

If elected, I will be guided by these stakeholder experiences and expert advice, and will advocate for the following:

• The establishment of a Federal coordinating body that will work with the states to reduce waste and prioritise access to affordable, high quality mental health care

• Improve access to mental health care for people requiring support

• Expand the mental health care workforce

• Create effective waiting lists by region in Australia for specialist assessment and the provision of specialised psychological and medical interventions

• Reform mental health emergency services (as per the recommendations of The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine)

• Implement preventive programmes that tackle the root causes of mental illness

• Improve, as a matter of urgency, access to mental health services for young people

• Support and expand community-based and geographically focused mental services that offer more accessible and personalised mental health support

• Ensure, in line with the Productivity Commission’s recommendations, that effective services support community-based recovery for people suffering mental illness

No, I don’t, and I believe it is a real problem in Australia, not just Goldstein. We need to review our overall national policies for mental health to provide better care. We could look at initiatives like:

• Supporting incentives to fast-track qualifications for current students to make more experts available.

• Recommending waiving of university tuition fees for mental health qualifications.

• Suggesting reviews to Medicare rebates to make specialists more accessible for youth and low income people.

• Encourage regular hosting of local groups – perhaps at council offices, for community support from volunteers.

• Introduce community based initiatives, like a Facebook Group attached to my profile and community letterboxes, to allow people to connect with others experiencing similar challenges, and talk about things that are working for them.

• Escalate awareness of key community struggles through the Minister’s office, to increase tolerance, understanding and empathy from the community.

• Fight for better funding for local hospitals and aged care facilities to provide enhanced outpatient and inpatient mental health care.

• Encourage and coordinate members of the community to work one on one in ‘adopt a friend’ programs, to support people facing mental health challenges.