Anglicare Mental Health and Family Wellbeing staff from Roma recently provided extensive input to our submission to an Australian Government inquiry into the Accessibility and quality of mental health services in rural and remote Australia.

They drew on deep experience to describe the barriers facing rural and remote Australians in accessing mental health services.

Sheer distance is certainly one – for example, a 1400km round trip to provide services to a remote community – but even shorter distances can be an obstacle when there are no or few public transport services in most rural areas. For individuals and families experiencing complex disadvantage, including poverty, the difficulties related to attending appointments (even in the same town) can be overwhelming.

Other barriers are related to the social structure of small communities. Word travels fast in small communities and people may worry about being ‘labelled’ by local gossip. Accessing support can be a source of stigma; and people may fear a loss of privacy and confidentiality when local service providers are the same people they come across at the supermarket, school event or church.

Read more here, or the submission is also now available on the parliamentary website (Submission 126).

The mental health workforce plays a critical role in supporting the wellbeing of rural Australians. Despite the challenges, Anglicare and other mental health professionals are valued resources in their communities. They work in difficult circumstances, with a keen awareness that individual therapeutic responses need to be supported by enhanced community capacity, capability and understanding of mental health issues.

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