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Victorian families to gain access to one-stop-shop for whole family mental health
Freya Lucas
Jul 27, 2022
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Victorian families will soon have access to better mental health care and wellbeing support for the whole family with providers selected for three Infant, Child and Family Health and Wellbeing Hubs.
The hubs will deliver a range of specialist medical and allied health services like paediatricians, psychologists, parenting support and speech pathologists under one roof, supporting families to access a range of services and assessments for developmental issues such as autism.The first three Infant, Child and Family Health and Wellbeing Hub lead providers are: IPC Health in Brimbank Melton, Monash Health in Southern Melbourne, and Bendigo Community Health Services in Loddon.
Servicing those with children from birth to 11 years of age, the hubs will offer holistic interventions for those who are experiencing developmental, behavioural and emotional challenges, delivering on key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and the National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Younger children will be especially supported by the renewed focus on early intervention and age-appropriate care to meet development and mental health challenges they can experience.
To ensure they meet community needs, hub services will be designed in consultation with local communities, people with lived experience as well as local service providers, including Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisations, to ensure service offerings build on existing services and capacity.
Funding for the hubs will be provided through the more than $6 billion mental health investment made by the Victorian government over the past three budgets to kickstart the decade-long reform of the state’s mental health system.
They are a joint commitment of the Victorian and Commonwealth Governments under the Bilateral Agreement on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention to improve multidisciplinary care for infants, children and families.
Under the Agreement, the Commonwealth is providing $22.3 million in funding to Victoria to support the establishment and operation of the hubs as part of its investment to create a national network of Head to Health Kids Hubs.
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