News

Dr Rachel Tindall, acting co-director of Mental Health, Drugs and Alcohol Services

Over the past few years, Barwon Health has been reforming mental health care in our region. We have been growing and changing the services we provide and how we provide them. Our reforms have been focused on building positive relationships between clinicians, consumers, their supporters and their communities, which is critical to recovery from mental illness.

Most people find their way to our mental health service through Barwon Health’s phone triage. Our clinicians connect with people and their supporters to listen and identify what help may be needed. If required, a more comprehensive or urgent mental health assessment can then occur in the community, at the Emergency Department, or at another suitable location.
Most people who access our service are cared for in the community. A minority of people benefit from treatment in an acute mental health ward at either the Swanston Centre or the McKellar Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre. These acute wards offer 24/7 inpatient care, which includes access to a multidisciplinary team, group programs and lived experience peer support. If acute care can be safely provided in the community, the Mental Health Hospital in the Home team can provide this service.

For some, the transition between acute care and home can feel overwhelming. To better support this transition, we provide some residential ‘step down’ and ‘step up’ services in Belmont with a focus on recovery and supporting people returning home. A new 10-bed residential service specifically for young people is being established in South Geelong and will open in 2025.

Our many community clinics across the region provide mental health care through specialist multidisciplinary clinical teams offering assessment, care-coordination, medication, family support and therapy services. People attend these appointments as regularly as necessary to help manage their mental health. In July, a new community clinic will open at our Central Geelong Mental Health Hub in Moorabool Street, improving access to specialist mental health services in a state-of-the-art building.

Historically, mental health services have focused on serious and enduring mental illness, and there have been limited options for people who are beginning to struggle with their mental health, social isolation, or loneliness. A new important initiative for Greater Geelong and the Borough of Queenscliffe has been the creation of a new service model known as the Mental Health and Wellbeing Local (GGQ Local). Led by a consortium including Barwon Health, Wellways, ermha365 and Wathaurong, this service is available to support people and respond to early signs of mental health challenges. The GGQ Local is staffed predominantly by mental health support workers and peer support workers who are ready to offer individual or group support, and social prescribing – which connects people to a range of community services that help reduce social isolation and loneliness.

It can be difficult to know where to seek help when there are so many services offered. Our clinicians are available to support people to access the care that best suits their needs. When people reach out to us for mental health support, they can be confident that we will listen, do the work, and partner with them to ensure they get the best possible help.

Barwon Health Mental Health Phone Triage – 1300 094 187
GGQ Local – 1800 573 151