Private practice Jessica Sinclair Counselling opens to combat lack services in Mount Gambier mental health sector

A South East woman is determined to reach those falling through the cracks of an overburdened regional mental health system struggling to keep up with demand.

Inspired by the councillors who helped her, a South East woman has brought a new mental health service to a regional city in hopes of providing care to those falling through the cracks of an overburdened system.

For Jessica Sinclair it was the “transformative” interactions she had with counsellors at a young age that uncovered her passion for mental health.

But she had no plans to return to the region after leaving Naracoorte at 17 for university.

After graduating with a Masters in social work she started her career at Anglicare in Adelaide before Mrs Sinclair felt family pulling her back to the South East.

Since arriving home in 2015 she has been a constant face in the local mental health sector – helping people through a.c care, Headspace and Centacare.

Jessica Sinclair has just opened her private counselling practice, to combat the severe lack of mental health services in Mount Gambier. Picture: Arj Ganesan

However, the counsellor said government funded organisations were limited in meet the demands of the community and decided to launch private practice Jessica Sinclair Counselling to help any person, of any age, at any stage of crisis.

“Government contracts will specify you can only see ‘children from this age to this age’,” she said.

“You can only see clients that are dealing with this particular issue — you can only see clients that are at this stage of the crisis.”

The new business opened its doors on Monday from the privacy of The Convent in Mount Gambier.

Existing mental health services in the city have struggled to keep up with demand, increasing wait times, which Mrs Sinclair said was further exacerbating problems.

While prepared it may take some time to build up a list regular client, she was unsurprised by a rush of inquiries and appointments.

“I know how many people want support and can’t get it,” she said.

“They can’t get it soon enough or it’s just not available.

Jessica Sinclair said she has a wealth of experience and is able to see clients of any age to deal with range of issues. Picture: Arj Ganesan

“There are so many amazing services here already. But, one worker can only see so many people.

“The workers don’t want to wait to see people, everybody wants to see clients as soon as they can but they can’t because there aren’t enough workers to service the demand.”

The opening following the launch and subsequent expansion of mental health and NDIS service provider Serene Country Living after demands for it services exceeded their expectations.

While the Mount Gambier Hospital, currently operating under a chief psychiatrist gazettal condition imposed after a routine inspection found at-risk patients leaving the ED, is awaiting six new mental health beds pledged by the state government.