Neami National announced as lead provider for $14m Adult Mental Health Centre planned for Darwin

DARWIN’S planned $14m Adult Mental Health Centre has taken a major step forward with the announcement of a lead provider for the project.

DARWIN’S planned $14m Adult Mental Health Centre has taken a major step forward with the announcement of a lead provider for the project.

Neami National, an Australian community-based organisation that provides services to improve mental health and wellbeing, will lead the delivery of services at the new centre in partnership with Larrakia Nation, the NT Primary Health Network (NT PHN) revealed at an event yesterday.

NT PHN chief executive Gill Yearsley said Neami had been selected after an extensive procurement process.

“Neami is a highly experienced provider in the mental health space, and since their establishment … (they) have worked nationally across the country with other (primary health networks) and other communities,” she said.

“They are committed to working in collaboration with a range of local service providers to set up the centre, and this ongoing collaboration and co-design will be critical to the success of the centre.”

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Neami chief executive Tom Dalton said the organisation would be working with a wide range of local stakeholders to deliver comprehensive mental health services in Darwin.

“We’re going to be working incredibly closely with the people of the Larrakia Nation, but also other services – clinical, social support, other medical services as well – so that this Adult Mental Health Centre can be a place where people come when they’ve got a form of crisis (and) they don’t know where else to go … to find the supports that they need,” he said.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said Neami’s appointment was an exciting step for an important project that would improve the lives of Territorians.

Once established, the Darwin Adult Mental Health Centre will be one of eight centres across Australia part of the federal government’s $114.5m Adult Mental Health Centres trial.

The NT PHN will receive $14m over four years to establish and operate the facility, which will provide a “one-stop shop” for mental health information, services and support for adults aged 25 and over.

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Neami is already the lead provider of the recently launched Adelaide Urgent Mental Health Care Centre, which is also part of the trial.

Ms Fyles said the centre would operate out of an established building in the community close to the Royal Darwin Hospital and public transport, though a location hasn’t yet been chosen.

Staff numbers are yet to be finalised but the figure is expected to be around 25.

The centre will operate seven days a week from 11am to 11pm, and will be free.

It is due to open by the end of the year.

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