actcoss text final.indd - ACT Council of Social Service

and by the reluctance of some particular population
groups to access mainstream services. However,
it also reflects the need for inter-sectoral links to
be improved and networks to be developed. This
is necessary as community health services will, in
certain cases, need to refer clients to specialist mental
health services. In addition, as referral is a two-way
path, linkages are essential to ensure that clients
who do access mainstream services but who could
benefit from non-mainstream services (for example,
youth or Indigenous) are connected with those
services. Finally, the benefits of linkages between
organisations extend beyond referral pathways,
opening opportunities for information exchange and
collaboration.
There have been a number of recent initiatives
through which primary health care providers have
sought to establish and improve linkages with
community services. These have predominantly
involved general practitioners (GPs) and include the
ACT Division of General Practice’s Mental Health
Team; Hospital GP liaison officers; the Can-Do Dual
Diagnosis Partnership and the TOP Team, opiate
co-morbidity program. The first of these, the Mental
Health Team, within the ACT Division of General
Practice, provides education and training to GP’s
and practice nurses, implements relevant programs
in response to new government policy and supports
GP’s in inquiries about mental health. Secondly,
GP liaison officers have been located at hospitals
in the ACT to play a role in patient dischargeplanning.
Thirdly, the ‘Can Do’ program is a dualdiagnosis
partnership project between GP’s and
community sector organisations. Its objective is to
develop deeper links between community sector
organisations and particular medical practices.
It builds on, develops and extends some already
established links to improve service coordination for
dual-diagnosis clients. Finally, the TOP Team, within
the Division of GP’s, runs an opiate co-morbidity
program, including an Indigenous stream. The
program coordinates primary health care with alcohol
and drug services, networking with relevant services.
Significantly, this includes a number of relevant
community services, for example, carers groups and
the Belconnen community program. Part of the role
of the TOP team is to promote relevant community
sector services to GP’s, in recognition that lack of
awareness is a significant obstacle to GP’s referring
clients to relevant services. Although a constructive
and significant initiative, consultation feedback
suggested that much work is still to be done to raise
awareness about community services, and develop
closer referral links with GP’s.
Consultation participants expressed the view that
GP’s’ level of knowledge of community services
varied significantly, that there was confusion arising
around which services were most relevant and
appropriate for particular client groups and locations.
The value of personal relationships and contacts
between GP’s and services was emphasised, so that
GP’s are able to link clients with services rather than
merely providing information and contact numbers.
From the perspective of GP’s, community services
seem fractured and the system very confusing.
The Division offers potential to be a vehicle for
information exchange between primary health
care and community services. It is able to distribute
information to community sector organisations
in newsletters, mail-outs, education forums and
seminars. This is a cross-sectoral initiative with great
potential for further development.
YOUTH SERVICES
A youth health service consulted estimated that more
than half of its service-users seek advice and support
for emotional and mental health related issues.
Indeed, the youth sector generally identified mental
health as one of its current strategic priorities. 87
Youth services are often left to support those youth
clients with serious mental health problems who pose
great challenges to services, but are ineligible for
acute care. Being inadequately trained and equipped
to provide such support, this takes its toll on staff
and organisational resources. Youth service advocates
expressed frustration at generally being overlooked
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87 This is reflected in the current strategic plans of various youth organisations.
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Towards an integrated mental health service system in the ACT•June 2007 NO WRONG DOORS