Mount Gambier secures mental health pilot program that reduced hospitalisations by 60 per cent

A regional hub will soon have access to a mental health program with a proven track record of reducing hospitalisation for people experiencing mental ill health.

After running a successful 12-month pilot in North Adelaide, Mind Australia will be trialling its Connect program in Mount Gambier, in a bid to reduce mental health-related hospitalisations.

Following the trial figures showed participants of the program had roughly a 60 per cent drop in hospitalisations.

Mind Australia SA operations general manager Brett Williams said the program provided a more conducive result for people experiencing high levels of distress than a hospital emergency department.

“EDs are not great places for people that have got high levels of mental health,” he said.

“When people are provided with an alternative to that, they tend to make really, really great use of it.

Mind Australia SA operations general manager Brett Williams. Picture: Supplied

Mr Williams said the program could be accessed from a number of different pathways, including hospital or ambulance referral.

“The ambulance service may go out to someone who's having high levels of distress — they may decide not to transport them anywhere but they will provide them with information about Connect or potentially fill in a referral and then Connect staff would contact that person,” he said.

Mr Williams openly discussed how peer-led support had helped him battle anxiety and depression, which he has been living with for most of his adult life.

“I have worked my way through that, sometimes with the help of professionals but mostly through utilising people who’ve had a similar experience,” he said.

Mr Williams is a passionate advocate for mental health services, having tragically lost his wife after she took her own life.

“Despite the best efforts of lots of people, we do lose people to the challenges and the devastation that can be caused by living with a mental illness or trauma,” he said.

However, Mr Williams remains “optimistic” about support programs, highlighting his daughter is “absolutely thriving because she was able to access the support that she needed”.

Mr Williams said Mind Australia already run a number of mental health services in the region, but had identified a gap they could plug.

“Regional areas sometimes do miss out on things so we were very keen to utilise our footprint there to provide the service to hopefully meet a need that’s not currently being met,” he said.

The Mount Gambier Connect program is expected to begin providing services in early March and has been funded for 12 months by SA Health.

Mind Australia chief executive Gill Callister said the program gave users hope “that they can live a life of purpose on their terms”.

“We support and contribute to new approaches of service design that are led by people with lived experience of mental ill-health,” she said.

“We applaud the South Australian government for investing in this vital alternative to an emergency department or hospital presentation for people experiencing psychological distress.”