Hume Region:

 

• Hume - Goulburn Valley >>

• Hume - East >>

Hume - Goulburn Valley

Our Catchment & Needs

Our catchment area stretches as far south as Beveridge, just north of
Melbourne, and as far north as Cobram on the New South Wales border.
Our Main centre Shepparton has both the highest ethnic population and the
highest aboriginal population outside of Melbourne. There is a great deal of
concern that our service as a whole can become more accessible to both
Aboriginal and ethnic communities.

Our region is also characterized by a lack of support structures within the
schools, which results in high rates of referrals to CAMHS, and a greater
sense of frustration in schools that are trying to support students.

Our Aboriginal Population

We have developed a reference group to address problems of service delivery,
increase collaboration and looking at ways of sharing and exchanging
knowledge with our Aboriginal community. The development of genuine
relationships and trust has been crucial to this process.

A Large Ethnic Population

Similarly there is a need for a consultative process to occur with our
ethnic communities, some of who have experienced trauma and torture as well
as dislocation, multiple grief and loss issues and adjustment to a new
culture.

Rural Isolation and Schools

As a region we are characterised by many small communities, many of which
are isolated from agencies that can provide support. As a general rule the
lack of specialist services means that workers from schools and support
agencies are required to translate their skills into a variety of needs and
problems.

We function as a resource to workers in schools and agencies, providing the
knowledge and understanding required to enable them to make effective
decisions about the mental health of young people they have contact with. We
have run specific training for groups of professionals.

We are involved in an exciting opportunity to increase awareness of the
mental health needs of students and appropriate responses in school, through
the School Welfare Coordinator Network. We also provide Mental Health
consultation to the School Focussed Youth Service.

We have been involved in a collaborative initiative along with other DHS
funded agencies and the Education Dept. in establishing District Teams to
develop preventative approaches to meet the needs of 'at risk' young people
in schools who sometimes otherwise fall through gaps in the system.

PATS

We now have a program to address the needs of children of parents with a mental illness. The program is an extension of the peer support model developed by the Centre for Adolescent Health in Melbourne. Feedback from both parents and participants has been encouraging. The groups run for eight weeks during the school term and include components of psychoeducation, looking at the child's adaptation to the parents illness and reviewing ways of coping. A formal evaluation of the program is planned. The program is funded for three years and is linked to other sites throughout victoria.

Carer Quality Initiative

Last year began an examination of the way information is exchanged between carers of clients with a mental illness and the mental health Service. As a result of this the Consumer Carer Advisory Council was formed. This included consumers and carers associated with each of the program areas, as well as management representation. The council reports to the peak body of the service and represents the views of carers and consumers in all aspects of the service. The council has endorsed an information kit for each program area, that has been developed within the service, through the Carer Quality Initiative Project. Each kit contains information considered helpful to carers and consumers in understanding the continuum of care within the mental health service.

 

 

 

Hume - East

 

This region extends from Mansfield, Benalla, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Wodonga, Corryong, and Bright and includes the many smaller rural communities within these boundaries.

The Mental Health Promotion Officer (MHPO) position was originally part time but has been increased to full time for 12 months with extra funding received from Regional Department of Human Services Mental Health Program and Upper Hume Primary Care Partnership. The MHPO works from a community development framework with a range of other organisations and key stakeholders including Department of Education, School Youth Focus Service (SYFS), Schools, Community Health Services, Consumers/Carers, GP's and other health promotion workers. The MHPO works as a coordinator for mental health promotion activities within the NECAMHS team, with each clinician incorporating some aspect of mental health promotion into their role.

The focus of the MHPO role over the past 12 months has predominately been working with schools to build the capacity of staff to promote wellbeing amongst themselves and their students. This work has taken the form of assisting schools with whole school auditing and planning around wellbeing issues and training and professional development around wellbeing, examples include, resilience, bullying and harassment, diversity and staff wellbeing. Mindmatters has been a key resource in this work with schools.

Another focus of the MHPO role has been working with the health promotion and service planning group of the Primary Care Partnership to support their catchment wide priority of promoting mental wellbeing and social connectedness.

Other ongoing mental health promotion activities that NECAMHS are involved in include:

• District Interagency Teams - all of the services in the catchment that work with young people coming together to improve the health and wellbeing for young people.
• Supporting Kids - A program to address the needs of children who have a parent with a mental illness.
• HRAP - High Risk Adolescent Panel
• Secondary Consultation - NECAMHS provides regular consultation to other services such as schools who are working with children and young people who may have mental health difficulties.
• Community Forums - NEACMHS is involved in community forums around mental health and wellbeing issues that are relevant to children, young people and their familles.
• Mental Health Week Activities - NEACMHS assist with the planning and organising of events for mental health week in our region.

Contact Details :

Emily Szakacs
North East Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (NECAMHS)
PO Box 1644 Wodonga VIC 3689
Ph: (02) 60 247711
E-mail: emily.szakacs@wrhs.org.a