NSW Health is calling on people with lived experience of mental illness and their carers to help shape the future of the Mental Health Line.
Welcoming the opening of consultation, Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government, Victor Dominello said the NSW Mental Health Line was a free phone service which operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offering specialist advice, support and referral to specialist NSW Health mental health services.
“We want to ensure it continues to meet the mental health needs of our communities,” Mr Dominello said.
“Co-designing the Mental Health Line with people with lived experience of mental illness is the best way to ensure the next evolution continues to make a real difference to those who need it.
“Our aim to be the most customer-centric government by 2030 starts by learning from our customers’ experiences and needs.
Mr Dominello said recent consultations helped the Department better understand areas such as digital inclusion and digital identity, “with these engagements generating new ideas for how we can better deliver services to the people of New South Wales”.
He encouraged people to become involved in the consultation before 26 August, whether they had experience using the Mental Health Line or did not know about the service.
Minister for Mental Health, Bronnie Taylor said that in 2020-21 around 864,000 Australians accessed at least one digital service for their mental health, but it was understood that this represented only one in 10 of those who experienced mental health distress.
“People need to be able to easily access services which can help them when they are at their most vulnerable,” Mrs Taylor said.
“This is something we can and need to address.”
Further information on the Mental Health Line consultation can be accessed at this PS News link.
