Federal Government new mental health service initiatives
The Rudd Government will invest almost $50 million in strengthening mental health services, including $20 million to help prevent suicide.
In any year, nearly one in five Australians will experience some form of mental illness.
These measures will help ensure that people coping with mental illness can get the care they need.
The Government is also establishing the National Advisory Council on Mental Health, to provide the Government with independent, expert and balanced advice, ‘to help drive national mental health reform.
The funding includes:
-
$20.6 million in 2008-09, to better target the National Suicide Prevention Strategy’
-
$5.72 million in grants of up to $40,000, to help 209 community-based mental health organisations manage demand for their services
-
$1.8 million for a mobile tracker system, to help people manage their mental health through mobile phones and the internet
-
$1.55 million for ‘Anxiety Online’, an online program to help manage anxiety
-
$4.8 million to support the ‘KidsMatter’ suite of activities, to encourage mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention activities in primary schools and early childhood settings
-
$12.3 million for ‘MindMatters’, to promote mental health in secondary schools
