Grampians Community Health chief executive officer Greg Little said funding for mental health programs needed to be a major focus for every level of government.

“Councils have a role to play in the health and well-being of their residents, but they aren’t experts in providing care and knowing which areas need focus,” he said.

“The lack of investment into these services really does show that mental health needs to be something focused on by local, state and federal governments.”

His comments come after new data from the National Rural Health Alliance examining the lack of mental health care in regional Australia was released.

The NRHA’s new analysis compared the number of mental health workers in major cities and country areas.

It found that in major cities there were 120 psychologists for every 100,000 people, while in very remote areas there were just 25 psychologists for every 100,000 people.

The data also revealed that there were just two psychiatrists for every 100,000 people in remote Australia.

For mental health nurses the split was 94 to every 100,000 people in cities, compared to 29 for every 100,000 people living in very remote areas. 

Mr Little said the Wimmera could always use more mental health services.

“The further you get of those regional centres like Horsham and Ararat, the harder it is to find help,” he said.

“Some people don’t have the ability to travel to regional centres to seek those services.

“Of course, ideally we would like to see those kind of services in smaller communities, but they just aren’t funded.

“But realistically you’re never going to have a sustainable and permanent mental health service in those smaller towns.

“This is why Rural Outreach programs are so important. They are an ideal way to provide face-to-face help to those outlying towns and that’s something we would love to support for the future.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that Yarriambiack, Hindmarsh and West Wimmera shire councils had teamed up to lobby the state and federal governments to fund a Rural Outreach Program for the region.

The NRHA analysis also revealed that Medicare spending on mental health was $52.42 per person in cities, and just $8.26 per person in very remote areas. 

Mr Little said there was a great need for mental health support in the Wimmera.

“Everything we know about mental health in rural and regional areas show that there is a real need for those services locally,” he said.

“Suicide rates in regional areas at the moment are worrying. We also know that drug and alcohol services aren’t as well used as we would like.

“There needs to be greater investment into local and rural health services across the board.

“The situation is quite sad at the moment – we can see the need and where we’d like to go, but it needs to be a priority for everyone.”

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