When will Murray Bridge get a mental health drop-in centre?
State MP Robert Roylance has joined calls for investment in local services following the release of a mental health plan for country SA.
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State MP Robert Roylance has joined calls for a mental health clinic to be opened in Murray Bridge to offer locals “consistent and accessible care”.
For years, advocates have been calling for a drop-in centre which could be the first port of call for anyone experiencing depression, anxiety or other mental health issues in Murray Bridge.
Such a centre could operate in the same way as the city’s Headspace centre, which caters only to young people aged 12-25.
Instead of seeking a referral from a GP and waiting for an appointment, locals could walk in, have a conversation with a qualified expert, receive a basic assessment, and be referred on to other services as needed.
The state and federal governments jointly operate four such mental health centres elsewhere in South Australia – at Elizabeth, Port Augusta, Mount Barker and Mount Gambier – and plan to open another in Port Pirie.
Would the government commit to opening one in Murray Bridge, Mr Roylance asked in parliament earlier this month?
Health and Wellbeing Minister Blair Boyer said he hoped to visit the Murraylands “soon” to find out more about the local need.
He noted that the government had invested in various services over the past four years, both in Adelaide – “they might not be in regional areas but they will support regional areas” – and elsewhere.
“I am very happy to have a longer conversation with the Member for Hammond around what (the government is) doing, what we have added, what is available and also what else might be possible in his area so that we can say, with our hands on our hearts, that those people in regional parts of our state who might be experiencing a mental health crisis, and wondering what support is available to them, can get access to fantastic high-quality support where they live or close to where they live, instead of having to travel long distances to get that care,” Mr Boyer said.
Federal MP has been on the case for a while
Also making the case for a Medicare Mental Health Centre in Murray Bridge has been federal MP Tony Pasin, who remarked upon the need at a Headspace event back in 2024.
“Mental health is not just an issue for young people,” he said at the time.
“We need places for people to go when they’re just feeling ick, they’re just not feeling right.
“That’s the only symptom you need to have to walk into a Headspace facility and say, ‘I’m not feeling all that flash.’”
It was the job of politicians to make sure that everyone who needed a service could access a service, he said.
Even a modest investment might make a difference.
A single session of mental health care was often enough to help young people get through a challenging period, former Headspace manager Suzanne Fuzzard told Murray Bridge News in 2021.
“Lots of ... people might just need to be heard and told that they’re not going crazy, they’re just having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation,” she said at the time.
Murraylands Suicide Prevention Network chair Cathy Smith called for a drop-in centre at an event in Murray Bridge earlier that year.
Many more mental health staff are needed in the regions
Mr Roylance’s question followed the release of a mental health plan for country South Australia.
The plan, published by SA Health in May, envisioned regions where everyone could access the right care at the right time, no matter where they live.
But it also made clear that there were “significant” staff shortages in the country, including:
- 16 times fewer psychiatrists than the national average
- four times fewer psychologists
- a third the number of mental health nurses
- half as many occupational therapists specialising in mental health
The only area of the mental health workforce country SA did better than the national average was in accredited mental health social workers.
Almost a quarter of residents in the Riverland Mallee Coorong region reported living with a mental health condition, and more than one in 10 reported having thought about suicide.
Groups including Indigenous people, those living with disability, those with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities, those from diverse cultural backgrounds and those dealing with homelessness or addiction were all over-represented in the stats.
Help-seeking needed to be normalised, and the stigma around mental health still needed to be reduced, SA Health found.
Another thing the department heard: “People want welcoming and safe places where they can seek help at the first signs of mental health distress rather than reaching a crisis point before seeking help.”
“People need access to timely, affordable and appropriate care regardless of where they live.”
- Get help: Talk to your GP; find a local service that suits you at murraymallee.servicesdirectory.org.au; call Lifeline on 13 11 14; or, in an emergency, call 000.
- More information: www.countrysaphn.com.au.
- Read more: Mental health drop-in centre needed in Murray Bridge
