Media Release - New mental health workers rolled out
Date published :
18
June
2012
Media Release
JENNY MACKLIN MP
Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous
Affairs
Minister for Disability Reform
MARK BUTLER MP
Minister for Mental Health and Ageing
New mental health workers rolled out
Sixty-six new mental health workers will be employed in
community support services across Australia thanks to a $13.4
million boost to the popular Personal Helpers and Mentors
initiative. The new workers will by employed by 31 organisations in
almost 50 communities across the country to provide one-on-one
support to local people with mental illness. They will work in
communities with high levels of mental illness and need for extra
support services, including Bourke and Wyong in New South Wales and
Ipswich and Logan in Queensland. The new mental health workers will
also provide targeted support to groups including young people
leaving out-of-home care, recent migrants and refugees, homeless
people and Indigenous Australians. Personal helpers and mentors
assist people with severe and debilitating mental illness, such as
schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, to set and achieve personal
goals, such as finding employment, and improving relationships with
family and friends.
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