Mental Health and Wellbeing Local adopts a ‘How can we help?’ and ‘No wrong door’ approach, to enable more people to access the support they need, including those who have previously been unable to find the right care and/or experienced barriers to accessing services.
People aged 26 years and over who are experiencing mental illness or psychological distress, including those with co-occurring substance use issues, can reach out for support.
All support is free, voluntary and easy to access, and you do not need a referral or mental health plan from your doctor to access help.
Echuca Local’s service manager Neesha Woodward said the entry point to the services would be through someone who had experienced similar circumstances, whether that was mental health, or drugs and alcohol.
“We have a lived-in experience framework embedded throughout our service,” she said.
“We want people who come in to learn some skills to manage what’s going on for them. We don’t want people to be dependent on our service.”
Mental Health and Wellbeing Local provides psychosocial support to help people manage daily activities, rebuild and maintain connections, engage with education and employment, and participate fully in the community.
“We try to give people some skills and strategies so that they can live their lives and not feel like they need to come in every week,” Ms Woodward said.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Local in Greater Bendigo-Loddon-Campaspe is funded by the Victorian and federal governments.
Mind Australia provides individualised, evidence-based and recovery-focused support to more than 11,000 people experiencing mental health and wellbeing concerns in Australia every year.
Face to face support at the Mental Health and Wellbeing Local in Greater Bendigo-Loddon-Campaspe or in the local community is available between 10am and 5pm Monday to Friday.
Phone and telehealth services are available 10am to 8pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday on 5497 5600 (Bendigo) and 5412 6600 (Echuca).
For free support in your local area, visit betterhealth.vic.gov.au/mhwlocal
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