Mental health Royal Commission response welcomed - now the hard work begins to fix the system
We welcome the statement from Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledging our mental health system needs urgent fixing and accepting all 65 recommendations from the Royal Commission into Mental Health final report released today.
Now the work begins to restore faith in our system and ensure what's put in place provides help and support to all those who need it.
Perhaps the most important line in the statement from Premier Andrews clearly outlines why this work is vital ... lives are depending on it.
We wrote in our official submission to the Royal Commission into Mental Health that this presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Victoria.
We must take that opportunity now.
OFFICIAL SUBMISSION: To read the Bendigo Community Health Services submission to the Royal Commission into Mental Health click here
Official statement from the Premier of Victoria ...
Mental health impacts all of us.
If it’s not our own direct experience, it’s people we know – people we love. And when someone we love is in pain, we suffer with them.
It’s mums overwhelmed, exhausted, and denied the joy of those precious early years in their child’s life.
It’s older blokes too – those who keep it in, bottle it up, until it’s too late.
It’s workers – our colleagues and workmates – struggling with the escalating pressures of work, life, money, family.
And heartbreakingly, it’s our kids. Parents who have tried and tried to get the right help for their child, only to be ignored or told to ‘hang on’ because the services just aren’t there.
It’s husbands, wives, mums, dads, children, neighbours and friends. It’s all of us.
And yet the truth is, that suffering just isn’t being taken seriously enough. People are either ‘not sick enough’ for help, or ‘too sick’ to treat outside a hospital.
These big gaps in the system mean that people are falling between the cracks.
