LTE – We must improve mental health support
Dear Editor,
Victoria’s mental health workforce is overworked, fatigued and being forced to close waiting lists as demand continues to increase, with many would-be patients waiting over a year for appointments.
The Nationals understand that people need mental health support when they need it, not a year from now.
That’s why The Nationals and Liberals have a plan to slash wait times for mental health support for Victorians and provide two million additional mental health appointments.
The plan is part of a newly announced Mental Health Workforce Strategy which could see up to 200,000 more Victorians able to access timely mental health support every year.
The Nationals and Liberals in government will fund an additional 750 psychology supervisors in Victoria and launch a new matching service to help psychology graduates find the right supervisor for them, across all parts of Victoria.
Those additional supervisor positions will increase Victoria’s capacity by adding up to 1,300 new psychologists over the next two years.
Under Labor, which was warned three years ago in the Royal Commission into Mental Health’s interim report that it must prioritise building Victoria’s mental health workforce, there are currently more than 6,000 mental health job listings online.
We need innovative solutions to fix the mental health crisis, and only The Nationals and Liberals have real solutions that will rapidly build Victoria’s mental health workforce.
The workforce strategy also includes recognising counsellors as mental health practitioners, which would unlock an additional 2,000 practitioners to deliver mental health support in our schools.
The Nationals and Liberals in government will establish the nation’s largest worker recruitment drive with more scholarships on offer, extra training places opened for psychologists and psychiatrists and relocation incentives to join the workforce.
Yours sincerely,
Danny O’Brien MP
The Nationals State Member for Gippsland South
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