Tragedy, outrage, repeat: Australia's mental healthcare crisis

A new investigation by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has highlighted serious gaps in Australia's mental healthcare system, particularly for people living with severe and complex mental illness in regional communities.

The article examines the circumstances surrounding the alleged attack on federal MP Helen Haines and the fatal Porepunkah police shootings, raising questions about missed opportunities to provide mental healthcare before tragedy struck.

ASoP CEO Dr Pramudie Gunaratne said Australia cannot continue responding to failures in mental healthcare only after something goes terribly wrong.

“We know that people fall through the cracks in the system all the time, but it's a revolving door. We'll have a tragedy and then outrage, and we might even have an inquiry to tell us what we already know, but nothing ever changes.”

For people living with serious mental illness, accessing effective treatment can be extraordinarily difficult. Regional workforce shortages, fragmented services and an overstretched system leave too many people without the care they need.

“The saddest thing is knowing that we have effective treatments, but so often people can't access them. It's so hard to get someone into care.”

ASoP is putting forward an urgent proposal to Federal Health Minister Mark Butler for a National Mental Health Observatory — a national initiative to measure access to evidence-based treatment, identify and learn from excellence, and drive improvements across Australia's mental health services.

Full article: here