Dr David Mitchell appointed the Northern Territory’s chief psychiatrist

Efforts to change the mental health of Territorians have taken a turn for the better. Find out how this Top End first will improve lives.

The mental health of Northern Territory residents will be the key focus of a newly appointed chief psychiatrist.

David Mitchell‘s ascension to the role brings the NT in line with other states and territories, which have had someone in this position for a number of years.

He will oversee all mental health efforts including the establishment of an 18-bed inpatient unit and Stabilisation and Referral Area; providing clinical and professional leadership in mental health quality and safety; developing a mental health workforce strategy; and engagement in suicide prevention initiatives.

Dr Mitchell has qualifications in general practice, adult psychiatry, medical administration and working in the military.

He was most recently a consultant psychiatrist at NT Health for the Top End region.

Chief psychiatrist Dr David Mitchell speaking about his new role in the Northern Territory. Picture: Floss Adams.

He said his roles and extensive experience practising in the NT prepared him for a range of situations.

“We have the challenges of remoteness,” he said.

“We have the challenges of having a complex population, transient population, a large Indigenous population, more than a third of our population with a huge burden of disease, both physically and through mental health

“We have some of the statistics that we really don’t want to have, the highest rate of suicide in the country and even when we account for some of those covariance, such as taking out at-risk groups, we still remain the highest.

“There’s a lot of work to do in that space but I relish the challenge and I think with the team of professionals I’m working, with we can make some really important changes in the next little while and certainly over the next few years.

“The chief psychiatrist is not the chief of psychiatrists.

“The chief psychiatrist is the chief advocate of the public, for the care of the consumer..”

The battle to treat mental health is considered one of the Territory’s most enduring problems.

Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows the NT is consistently recording the highest number of deaths by suicide in the country.

Preliminary data has the rate for 2020 and 2021 at 21 and 20.4 per 100,000 respectively.