The ACT Government will spend $28 million on mental health in the 2023-24 Budget to be published later this month.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the investment endeavoured “to expand both the quality and the quantity of mental health services that are available in the ACT”. The investment was multifaceted: new infrastructure and new programs; programs delivered in hospitals, in the community, and in partnership with non-government providers, whose capability it would improve.

“It is a comprehensive mental health package,” Mr Barr said.

It builds on previous ACT government initiatives, meets Parliamentary Governing Agreement and election commitments, and steps in where the Commonwealth has yet to make important funding announcements.

“Through this funding, we are delivering a resilient, sustainable, and person-centred mental health system in partnership with our healthcare workers and Canberra’s trusted community organisations,” Emma Davidson, ACT Minister for Mental Health, said.

“The ACT government is committed to providing an accessible mental health and wellbeing system, where people experiencing mental ill health and their families will be able to get the care they need, in an appropriate setting. reducing mental health hospital stays and increasing early outreach for mental health challenges.

“Accessing early mental health support can help people before they reach a crisis point and allows them to continue to stay engaged and connected with their community.”

Residential Eating Disorders Centre

The government will spend $17.3 million over four years on the operation of the ACT’s first Residential Eating Disorders Centre, which will open in Coombs next year.

“This will provide Canberrans with access to a service that is appropriate for their stage in recovery and enable them to live well in the community,” Ms Davidson said.

The centre will offer a home-like environment for people with eating disorders to live while they receive the support they need.

“A residential setting is much closer to what [people receiving treatment] will do when they go home than being in a hospital clinical setting,” she said.

The centre, Ms Davidson said, is part of a Territory-wide range of services “for eating disorders at all the different points in someone’s journey.” For instance, the ACT Eating Disorders Clinical Hub, a central point for Canberrans with eating disorders, which opened last year, “has been really helpful in making sure that people are able to get access to the right service for where they are at on their journey”.

• Construction begins on ACT residential eating disorder centre (9 June)
• Early intervention service for eating disorders coming to ACT (15 December 2022)
• ACT Residential Eating Disorder Facility to be built in Coombs (9 November 2022)
• New central hub in ACT for eating disorders (25 January 2022)

Safe Haven

A Safe Haven facility will open at the Canberra Hospital, costing $2.3 million over four years.

The Belconnen Safe Haven facility opened in 2021, and is staffed by peer support workers, who have grappled with mental illness or depression and survived.

“Securing a second Safe Haven facility at the Canberra Hospital will provide a much-needed, non-clinical space for people in distress, filling a local service gap for people in Canberra’s South,” Ms Davidson said.

• ACT’s new peer-supported mental health service (27 November 2021)
• People helping people: Safe Haven Belconnen mental health service at full capacity (25 October 2022)

Over the last 18 months, the Belconnen facility has delivered more than 1,500 hours of support to Canberrans “who need someone that they can talk to, who understands what it’s like, and has the professional skills to support them through crisis and to stay on track with their therapeutic programs”, Ms Davidson said.

“The more that we can support someone to get connected with the right service at the right time, the better their chances of getting into recovery and staying in recovery.”

Evaluation reports from independent sources state that Safe Haven works well, Ms Davidson said.

“This is really helping people to not to have to call on their NDIS plan as much, to stay connected with their community-delivered mental health therapies, or to find the right service if they’re coming in here after their first instance of realising that they need some help.”

The hospital Safe Haven will be in a location that is both familiar and easily accessible to people travelling by public transport.

WOKE and Stepping Stones

The ACT government will temporarily fund two mental health pilot programs for young Canberrans that the Commonwealth previously funded: WOKE (run by the University of Canberra) and Stepping Stones (run by CatholicCare). Federal funding runs out at the end of this month.

In the meantime, the ACT government will negotiate with the Commonwealth to secure federal funding.

“Those were Commonwealth-funded programs, and there should have been a plan in place [to] make sure that this program continues long-term,” Ms Davidson said. “What we’ve done is to make sure that the program can continue while we work with the Commonwealth [to] make sure that this becomes a permanent feature of our mental health service landscape in the ACT.

“We’re looking to the Commonwealth to do the right thing here. They were the ones that started these programs; we’ve been able to demonstrate that they are successful programs; and we’d like to continue to be able to work with the Commonwealth on how we make sure that these programs are funded long-term.”

More funding

The ACT government will also spend $4.3 million over four years for community-based residential accommodation for people with mental health needs.

$2 million will be spent to continue and establish a range of complementary mental health services for children and young people “so that the range of service providers we have in the ACT are able to network with each other, collaborate more, and really build on what each other is doing”, Ms Davidson said.

The second Police, Ambulance and Clinician Early Response (PACER) team, which responds to mental health crises, will be extended for nine more months.

• ACT Government recommits to PACER mental health election promise (3 February 2021)