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Support services for young people with mental health difficulties are often based at a hospital or local community health centre or a community mental health clinic. |
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Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) exist for young people up to the age of 18 years. Adult Psychiatric Services are available for people over 18 years of age. |
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Crisis Assessment and Treatment Teams (CAT Teams) will visit someone when there is a mental health crisis and may be contacted by anyone, including the person themselves, family or friends, police, doctors or other professionals. |
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Psychiatric Wards are for people who are deemed to be at serious and immediate risk to themselves or others, due to their illness. People may be admitted voluntarily or involuntarily. |
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Dual Diagnosis is when someone has a psychiatric or mental illness as well as an Alcohol or Other Drug (AOD) use problem. Dual-Diagnosis teams have been established in all regions in Victoria and are often based at a hospital. |
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Some community organisations offer day programs with various activities and groups for people with mental illnesses, as well as counselling or other supports. |
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Some services are funded to provide accommodation for people with mental illnesses. The accommodation may cater for independent living or offer support from professional staff. |
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Some agencies are funded to assist people with mental health difficulties to obtain suitable training or employment. These agencies may be accessed via a Centrelink Social Worker. |
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Services are often based at a hospital or local community health centre or a community mental health clinic. These services provide Psychiatric assessments, diagnosis and treatment. Treatment can include prescribed medication and the support of case-managers. A case-manager is usually a social worker or mental health nurse who works with patients to ensure that they are taking their medication and that the medication is helping them to stabilize or recover. They are there to assist patients in a crisis, to support them and to link them into additional services as required.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) exist for young people up to the age of 18 years. Adult Psychiatric Services are available for people over 18 years of age. In some cases the age criteria may vary slightly depending on the situation. These services have limited resources and demand for service is high.
CAMHS tend to assess children or young people only when there is the possibility of serious emotional/psychological problems. Once they have accepted a referral for a child or young person, CAMHS will usually involve the family in treatment.
Generally speaking, adult mental health services also only assess someone if there are serious problems involved, in particular psychosis. They tend to provide services for people with who are fairly unstable, have significant difficulty with daily functioning and who lack other supports. They may make exceptions if there are strong grounds, for example, repeated suicide attempts, and if there is support from other professionals. If they do not agree to undertake an assessment or case-management of a person, they may refer them elsewhere for assessment and treatment, for example, to a private psychiatrist or another support service.
To contact your local CAMHS or Adult Psychiatric Service go to: www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/index.htm. Type in your suburb then click on the type of service you are after (Adult, Child, Aged or Disability) for contact details.
CAT teams are also a part of local Psychiatric Services and are often hospital-based. These teams will visit someone when there is a mental health crisis. They will try to respond to requests for assistance in the following situations:
- if a person with a mental illness is posing a risk to themselves or to someone else via threats or attempts of suicide or violence.
- if a person is highly psychotic or out of touch with reality,
- an immediate response is needed.
These teams may be contacted by anyone, including the person themselves, family or friends, police, doctors or other professionals. The team will decide, based on the information provided, if they will respond or not. It can be difficult to get them to respond, due to their limited resources and tendency to see only the extreme cases, but it is definitely important to call if a young person is threatening suicide or self-harm.
Police are often a good first point of call if there is a crisis, and they will involve the CAT team as needed. They can take someone voluntarily or involuntarily to a hospital for psychiatric assessment. The CAT team often involve the police to maximise the safety of all.
CAT teams usually only stay involved for a short time. They may refer the patient to a private psychiatrist or other mental health service for ongoing monitoring. Alternatively, they may organise assessment and case management from Psychiatric Services for ongoing support. The involvement of the CAT team does not necessarily mean a person will be admitted to hospital for treatment, although it could lead to this.
If your child has both mental health and drug problems and you need to contact the CAT because your child is in crisis, it is important to make clear your concerns about your family member's mental health and their safety. This is to ensure that they are not excluded from receiving emergency services from the CAT team because their problems are solely attributed to drug use.
To contact your local CAT Team, go to: www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/index.htm. Type in your suburb then click on the type of service you are after (Adult, Child, Aged or Disability), for contact details. Or contact your local hospital via your White Pages telephone directory (www.whitepages.com.au) or your local Community Health Service for information.
In recognition that young people may relate better to a more relaxed and less formal approach, these teams have been set up and can come out to visit the young person and provide a particularly youth-friendly service. These teams are available in most regions' CAMHS.
To contact your local CAMHS, go to: www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/index.htm. Type in your suburb then click on the type of service you are after (Adult, Child, Aged or Disability) for contact details.
Psychiatric Wards are for people who are deemed to be at serious and immediate risk to themselves or others, due to their illness. People may be admitted voluntarily or involuntarily.
Hospital stays are usually short-term. Often families or the person with the serious mental health illness need 'time out' or 'intensive support' and a hospital stay may provide this respite and relief. Government funded in-patient services are very limited so only people considered as 'high risk' and 'high need' will be admitted. There are a few private in-patient psychiatric clinics in Victoria but you need private health insurance to cover the cost of treatment in these clinics.
For young people under 16 years and under, there are in-patient units available for CAMHS clients with serious mental health or behavioural issues. These units provide intensive care and treatment for children or young people in the short-term to enhance their functioning and wellbeing.
Contact your local Psychiatric Service via: www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/index.htm. Type in your suburb then click on the type of service you are after (Adult, Child, Aged or Disability) for contact details. Or contact your local hospital via your White Pages telephone directory (www.whitepages.com.au).
Dual Diagnosis is when someone has a psychiatric or mental illness as well as an Alcohol or Other Drug (AOD) use problem.
Dual-Diagnosis teams have been established in all regions in Victoria and are often based at a hospital. The Dual-Diagnosis Teams work with professionals in both the Alcohol and Drug sector and the Psychiatric Services sector, to promote quality care for people with both drug and mental health difficulties. This is in recognition of the fact that people with both mental health and drug use difficulties generally have poorer outcomes than people with only one of these two difficulties.
The Dual Diagnosis teams usually provide advice to the workers already involved with a young person on how to deal with the young person's drug and mental health issues. In some cases they may assess and provide short-term treatment directly with the young person or adult with the difficulties but often their role is to provide advice to workers and staff training.
These teams are accessed through your local Psychiatric or AOD Service: www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/index.htm. Type in your suburb then click on the type of service you are after (Adult, Child, Aged or Disability), for contact details.
Primary Mental Health Teams are available to provide advice and assistance to doctors who are treating patients with Anxiety or Depression issues. Doctors access their services for advice about medication, treatment strategies and support services.
Discuss their involvement with your doctor.
Some community organisations offer day programs with various activities and groups for people with mental illnesses, as well as counselling or other supports. You can find out more from your local Psychiatric Service or local council or community health service.
Contact your local Psychiatric Services: www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/index.htm. Type in your suburb then click on the type of service you are after (Adult, Child, Aged or Disability) for contact details.
Some services are funded to provide accommodation for people with mental illnesses. The accommodation may cater for independent living or offer support from professional staff.
For young people approximately 16 to 25 years, there are supported accommodation options. Staff are present during business hours or sometimes twenty-four hours. Some support and activities to assist with practical living are provided. There can be significant waiting lists for places but it is definitely worth exploring if your young person is in need of supported accommodation.
It can be highly beneficial for young people, when the time is right, to live independently from family. Living independently can help them take more responsibility for their own lives.
Contact your local Psychiatric Services: www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/services/index.htm. Type in your suburb then click on the type of service you are after (Adult, Child, Aged or Disability) for contact details.
Some agencies are funded to assist people with mental health difficulties to obtain suitable training or employment. These agencies may be accessed via a Centrelink Social Worker. Go to: www.centrelink.gov.au for more information or call 132 717.
There are support services for parents and carers, and sometimes children or siblings, of people with mental health difficulties. See:
- Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria (previously the Schizophrenia Fellowship) provides support for people with mental health difficulties and their families.
- ARAFEMI also provides support for people with mental illnesses and their families and provides carer newsletters and groups.
- The Public Advocates Office can take responsibility for the legal, financial, guardianship and accommodation needs of people with disabilities when they are unable to care for themselves and their family are unable to take responsibility for them. This office may be of assistance if your family member is not functioning well enough to be able to take their medication as directed or to manage their lives including their money and health in a safe way.
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