Ahead of the holidays, general practice staff are being reminded about two mental health services now available to help you better support your patients. The GP Psychiatry Support Line connects GPs to psychiatrists for case support, and Connect to Wellbeing is a new local referral service that includes intake for the Healthy Minds program.
For many people, the festive season is for spending time with family, taking leave from work to re-energise for the year to come, and celebrating with friends. It also can be a time of increased mental ill-health. Financial issues, family conflict and loneliness can increase stress for people with anxiety or depression at this time of year.
The role of primary care, particularly general practice, in mental health care is now well recognised. To help support our North Coast General Practitioners, North Coast PHN introduced a new service in July this year. The GP Psychiatry Support Line is free to use and connects GPs with a psychiatrist who can provide advice on diagnosis, investigation, medication and safety plans.
North Coast PHN has also recently funded the Connect to Wellbeing service, which connects community members to the right mental health support and information. They can organise free in-person or over the phone counselling, as well as provide up-to-date information and resources for those requiring support. Connect to Wellbeing provides the intake for Healthy Minds free counselling service for people experiencing mild to moderate mental health concerns, and who are unable to afford services provided by mental health practitioners in private practice. People can call Connect to Wellbeing directly on 1300 160 339 Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm.
Learn more via HealthPathways:
For a list of all localised pathways see:
Mid and North Coast Localised Pathways
Username: manchealth
Password: conn3ct3d
For further information about HealthPathways email [email protected] or [email protected].