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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-06-21 Daily Xml
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Mental Health Services

Ms COOK (Fisher) (15:09): My question is to the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse. What support is available for carers of people with mental health problems?

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:10): I thank the member for her question. She is a passionate advocate on behalf of people living with mental illness and their carers in her electorate and across the state. We know that one in five South Australians and Australians suffers some form of mental illness in any one year. This is a figure that is often cited in the media, and it's highlighted by the common prevalence of mental illness.

However, an often underappreciated aspect is the fact that carers look after people with mental illness. It's estimated that 2.4 million people in Australia care for a person with a mental illness. These are people who play crucial roles in everyday and ongoing care and support the most vulnerable people in our community. The carers in our community are often unsung heroes, and many of us would know the stories of carers in our electorate.

The South Australian government remains committed to ensuring that carers are considered partners in the journey to recovery and in the healthcare system. It was a pleasure to meet a wide variety of people with lived experience in this area recently. On separate occasions, I recently met with representatives from Carers SA, the eastern and western Lived Experience Liaison Groups and the Western Carers and Consumers Forum. It was a privilege to listen to their stories as carers and the stories of the people they look after. The amount of compassion they show for their loved one is outstanding.

Earlier this year, I launched a 'A practical guide for working with carers of people with a mental illness'. This is a handy tool for all people involved in the mental healthcare sector to help carers, consumers, staff and organisations improve their practice and engagement with the carer community. The guide includes self-assessment tools so users can use the guide to meet the best-practice standards of care around the state. There is also information about where they can find practical support for themselves and resources about how they can learn to live balanced lives whilst caring. I would encourage everyone in the chamber to take a look at the guide for themselves and encourage it to be widespread throughout their electorate. You can follow it on the website www.mindaustralia.org.au.

It's important that carers are considered part of the mental healthcare community, and we need to do more in this space. The process we have established for carers to have a greater say in improving mental health services in our state involves our Lived Experience Register and liaison groups. If people in this chamber don't know more about it, I would be happy to speak to them outside and encourage more people, particularly from regional South Australia, to involve themselves in the register and liaison groups.

The South Australian Mental Health Commission will also feature extensive consultation and collaboration with carers and consumers when developing the state mental healthcare plan. The experience and knowledge that carers can provide to improve decision-making in mental health is a great asset to this state, and we should make much advantage of it. We should be enabling this community by increasing their capacity and resilience with resources and this carers guide, and we must also leverage their experience by listening to them and taking their feedback on board, as with the Lived Experience Register. I commend the very hard work of carers throughout our community and thank them for the invaluable role that they provide to their loved ones and our state.

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