Not-for-profit frontline mental health services are being forced to beg for small change as they manage the fall-out from the mental health funding model.
A聽Greens campaign to 聽cites recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing that聽 of people will experience mental health issues in their life and聽聽to see a psychologist will either delay, or not try, because of the cost.
CEO Carolyn Nikoloski聽said unmet need has a significant impact. 鈥淸It impacts] the wellbeing for people experiencing mental ill-health, and their family, carers and supporters. It is also a missed opportunity for investment in a well-functioning and efficient mental health system.鈥
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare聽聽currently includes聽$1.5 billion for Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme components, $8.1 billion to the States and Territories and a staggering $13.2 billion on mental health-related services.
Yet, some key front line organisations still are not getting their fair share.
聽recent brush with closure聽is a case in point.聽Australia鈥檚 only free grief and loss counselling service, it has been helping people navigate bereavement since 1987 and is the only service of its kind. Griefline answers around 30,000 calls and 50,000 online engagements every year as well as providing accredited training services.聽It also recently opened a聽聽in partnership with聽.
Yet, when Griefline received its funding agreement for this financial year, it was only allocated $200,000. Griefline CEO Kate Cahill told聽麻豆传媒聽it was never going to be enough.
鈥淲e flagged about 18 months ago that鈥檚 a gap of about $600,000, because it cost us around $800,000 to fund the helpline for a year,鈥 Cahill said.聽聽Advised to tender for the shortfall, through the digital health tender, Griefline were stunned when told it was unsuccessful.聽聽
Despite taking referrals from many other mental health services across the country, including hospitals and helplines, the reason given was their service 鈥渨asn鈥檛 unique and didn鈥檛 have a broad enough reach鈥.
After discovering Red Nose had been awarded additional funding without a competitive tender, Griefline mounted a campaign to have its funding properly addressed. The grassroots campaign was successful: Mark Butler, Minister for Health and Aged Care, soon learned just how important Griefline is for many.聽
鈥淲e had an outpouring of support from sector partners, from people that have used the service and from our volunteers,鈥 Cahill said.
鈥淪upport for the service was so strong it resulted in an 11th hour intervention from Minister Butler and we鈥檝e now got the top-up funding to enable us to keep trading for this year, with the opportunity to apply for a grant for three years of funding from July.鈥
But because the government is in caretaker mode, Griefline is not yet able to apply and it鈥檚 not alone. 鈥淭here are 15 other organisations in this digital mental health space that are all waiting for that grant opportunity to open up,鈥 Cahill said.
鈥淭hen we鈥檒l be able to apply for a non-competitive grant for $500,000 a year for three years. But we will still need to reach out to community, corporate and philanthropic partners for the [$300,000] shortfall.鈥
Cahill says Griefline and its supporters will continue to lobby government to properly fund vital services and supporters can help by sharing their stories about how Griefline helped them or by purchasing training modules.
[You can donate聽to Griefline .]