General News
24 September, 2024
New mental health hub to serve as an outreach
A new mental health and wellbeing connect centre is to be established in the Wimmera to support people who are caring for someone with mental health and substance-use challenges.
Grampians Community Health is partnering with Mind Australia and Ballarat Community Health to open the new centre, will be one of seven across Victoria.
Counselling manager Sarah Sargeant said families and carers would be linked with the vital networks and resources needed to improve their own wellbeing.
“We are trying to reach out into regional communities, because we know there is a lot of need across the region," she said.
“It’s an exciting new concept that evolved from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, which recognised that carers dealing with people with mental health and addiction issues were often forgotten.”
Ms Sergeant said caring for someone with a mental illness could be challenging and sometimes a lifelong commitment.
Mind Australia is currently collating information gained from community forums conducted over recent months in Edenhope, Horsham and Warracknabeal.
It hopes to recruit staff and set up a hub in one the region's larger towns, which would serve as an outreach centre for smaller townships across the Wimmera.