Mental Health Issues in Australia

This essay discusses the prevalence of mental health issues in Australia and the policies developed to address them. It also explores the role of social workers in improving mental health.

Running head: Master of social work
Master of social work
Mental Health issues in Australia
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

Master of social work 1
Mental health can be defined as the state of psychological and emotional well being of
a person (Batterham et al., 2015). In case the psychological and the emotional state of the
person are not well, the person suffers from mental illness. The history of mental health
illness has a custodial act of detention and deprivation from the liberty from the society.
Under this framework the mental illness was managed by imprisoning the mentally ill person
behind the asylum. This was a kind of punishment given to the victim with the objective that
the illness would not pass to the wider community. Situations were a bit different for the
wealthy families where they arranged their own asylum and treated the mentally ill person
behind the bars (Cowley et al., 2015).
According to The Department of Health, Australian Government, mental illness has
widespread in Australia and other developed countries and has impacted substantially the
population at the social, economic as well as at the personal levels (Health.gov.au 2009).
According to the results of the surveys conducted in 2007 by the National Survey of Mental
Health and Wellbeing, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), it has been
found that one out of five people between the age group of 16 and 85 are experiencing the
common forms of the mental illness (Health.gov.au 2009). These mental illness issues are
anxiety, mood disorders and ranging to issues like substance mood disorder. The prevalence
of the mental health issues are highest among the early adults who are found to establish their
families and working independently. The governmental approach towards the improvement
of the mental health services, support and care has further helped to build the reputation for
the nation. It has been seen that the Australian Government has invested a record of $2.2
billion in the mental health services to provide support and care and to bring improvement in
the delivery of the service (Health.gov.au 2009).

Master of social work 2
The aim of the essay is to focus on the social problems in Australia and to understand
the policy responses meant for this social problem. For this essay, mental health issues in
Australia have been selected and the policies developed for this issue will be considered for
the discussion. The idea is to contextualise the selected issue historically and to find out how
the policies developed for this issue can be improved so as to overcome the recent issues that
the country has been facing and how these policies can be improved. The practical
implications of the social workers in this context will also be highlighted in this context.
With the increased issues of mental illness among the children, adult and other
population in Australia, the government has come across various policies with the aim of
improving the mental health of Australians (Health.gov.au 2009). Some of those policies are
E-mental health strategy of Australia, Fourth National Mental Health Plan, National
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention strategy, National Mental Health
policy, National Mental Health Strategy and other (Health.gov.au 2009). A critical analysis of
the two policies developed for the mental illness in Australia will be carried on to evaluate
the effectiveness of the policies and to understand the role of the social workers by implying
such policies in the countries.
The E-Mental Health Strategy for Australia set out a long term vision for developing
a high quality and accessible mental health care system to the people of Australia suffering
from the various mental illnesses. In the view point of Batterham et al., (2015), Australia is
always recognised as a developed country and a leader in creating and caring the people with
mental illness and the government has been found to come up with various strategies often.
According to the e-mental health strategy, the government aimed to provide online health
support to the sufferers and the victims. The service is provided by telephone crisis support
service. As opined by Wozney et al., (2017), that researches shows that those who participate

Master of social work 3
in the online therapies of treatment and services allows a better and convenient way to the
victims to discuss their mental health issues and find out a better solution to their problem.
The e-mental strategy adopts the similar approach that a face to face conversation among the
patient and the carer would take place. In fact, at times it happen that a person suffering from
a kind of mental illness like anxiety feels more comfortable in talking with someone over call
and at a distance rather than face to face. Thus, the help line number that the Australian
Government has come up with falls under the Telephone counselling, Self-help and Web
based Support programme (Wozney et al., 2017).
If the effectiveness of the e-mental strategy is taken into consideration, it has been
found that those who are seeking intervention and support for their mental health issues are
not getting adequate support from the e-services. In fact, Bessant et al., (2006) commented
that it is equally difficult for the one who has been providing service to the victim to
understand the issue over telephone or other e-medium and help out the person in need. It is
definitely a good approach to engage a lot of people in the service because it is convenient for
the user to give a call and discuss about the health or mental issues but the effectiveness of
such strategies in terms of receiving help from the carer is doubtful. A lot of investment has
already been made to provide a handy solution to the ones suffering from health issues with
the help of which a person can share and talk with a person but the outcome of such
conversation still remains under debate as none of the person are viewing each other and
understanding the problem properly (Bessant et al., 2006). Thus, this strategy can be
considered as an immediate and instant help to the survivors who have been looking for a
partner to discuss various things. However, in case of providing medication or other
professional help, the strategy is not much effective. At the same time, the strategy has been
proven to be effective against suicidal attempts by people where the life of people has been

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saved just because the person had talked to someone and the care giver manipulated the
person’s suicidal thinking.
Another mental health policy is the National Mental Health policy 2008 that
acknowledges the indigenous heritage of the people’s culture in our society. The aim of this
strategy is to recognise the rights and status of the indigenous people and identify the
fundamentals of the well-beings of these people (Health.gov.au, 2009). The aim of this policy
is to promote the mental health and the well-being of the community people in Australia and
acknowledges the heritage and the contribution of the people in getting distinctive right to the
status and the culture. The aim is to reduce the impact of mental illness including the impact
of few instances like effects of stigma on a particular individual, families or any other
communities. In addition to this, the policy also aims at promoting recovery methods from
the intense mental disorders and illness. In the view point of Keman, (2011), it has been
found that people risk their lives because of the mental health issues that they suffer from.
There are so many episodes in a person’s life that requires clinical and community service
treatment. There always remain the risks of developing mental health problems among the
people because of the various things that they go through. It is at that point of time, an
intervention by the professionals are required so that the issues can be overcome and the
person can feel better and consider himself away from the state of discrimination or other
ways by which they feel de-motivated and deprived (Keman, 2011). Criticising the policy,
Keman, (2011) commented that at many times it happened that the people who require
thorough medication and treatment even behind the asylum are given the opportunity to live a
better life. The idea is to remove the stagnant condition of the society where the people are
getting mental pressure from the peers as a result of the discrimination activities and social
disintegration among the people. The concept is to live life in people and hold an equal
position in the society. The success of the policy can be seen easily as Australian Government

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is highly against the racial discrimination and other factors that might add to the mental stress
of the people.
The most important and effective strategy to fight against the issues of mental health
is the National Suicide Prevention strategy. This strategy provided the platform for the
Australia’s national policy to emphasize and prevent the issues of the most disastrous
situation of suicide. The aim of this policy is to provide the early intervention and help to the
victim and prevention of suicides and suicidal attempts made by various people. The policy
came into being in 2015 as a response of the National Mental Health Commission review of
the mental health program where the government made the decision to take a stern step
against the increasing suicidal attempts and the increased rates of suicides (Health.gov.au,
2009). In order to curb the instances of the increasing rate of suicide, the government has
made partnership with the local hospital networks, states and territories in order to get
funding at the right time to save the people committing suicide. However, similarly the
effectiveness of the policy might be hampered if immediate help is not given as it completely
depends on the person to seek help at the time of suicide. As commented by Neal, (2015), the
effectiveness of this strategy lies in the national leadership and support activity that has given
rise to a community where the people can take care of each other and ensures a safer place for
the people. Reading Raisio, (2010), it has been found that there are many cases of the
Aboriginals and the Torres people are suffering from suicidal thoughts and actions. These
people often find themselves disconnected with the society and as a result of which there has
been a lot of situations where the people end up their life by committing suicide.
The role of social workers and their impact on the practise for improving the mental
condition of the victims and sufferers cannot be negotiated and their contribution is immense.
The social workers work with people across various life ages with different stages of the

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mental health condition. The aim of these people is to provide their holistic approach in order
to save the life of a person and provide the best suitable remedy that the person can fight
against the mental health issues (Turner, 2017). These carers are equally competent as they
are given adequate training in their fields to fight against various mental health conditions
that a person is going through. It has to be understood that mental health disorders like
depression or mood disorder, life crisis situations, family conflicts, adjustment issues can
easily give rise to serious mental health issues and suicidal thoughts and here is when the
social workers are found to be effective in their roles to fight against all the odds that the
person is going through (Wozney et al., 2017). It is the responsibility of the social worker to
understand the situation and act accordingly. It is important to become a close associate and a
friend to the person to discuss the issues that the victim is going through. The social worker is
expected to set an ambitious goal to get hold of the crisis and optimally use the resources to
make use of it in the best possible ways.
The effectiveness of the social workers working for the improvement of the mental
health of the people in Australia has been seen properly and adequately. Mental health
promotion has increased in the time being and so is the role of the social workers. People
from all the class and society are taking help of the social workers to overcome the various
mental disorders like anxiety (Turner, 2017). In fact, children are also being educated at the
schools and other educational institute to teach about the importance of mental health and
how an individual can live with dignity in the society. At times, the intervention of the social
workers is needed when the victims feel very helpless and fell detached from the society
(Oppedal & Idsoe, 201). It is then that the people often require some kind of support and help
from a professional and here comes the role of the social workers who provide their support
at any point of time when required. There has been a change in the perception of the people
when it comes to taking help for the sake of their mental health issues where people now are

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found to adopt various ways of reaching out to a person whom they can trust and can speak
their heats out. There is a mutual trust and belief that the worker would be helpful and would
understand the situation that the person is going through (Turner, 2017). Their behaviour is
manipulated according to the need of the patient as a person suffering from mental illness can
carry any kind of mood because mental illness might have caused due to a broken
relationship, being unsuccessful at the workplace or even if the person is being compare or is
a victim of racism or cultural disintegrate. Thus, the role of the social worker to a victim and
sufferer is the most helpful and effective help that a person in need can look at the time of
their need (Cowley et al., 2015).
With the detailed evaluation of the various health policies in Australia and the role of
social workers and its implications, it can be said that the Australian government has been
successfully been able to take care of the mental health conditions of the people. The number
of people suffering from the various mental disorders and issues is high and similarly the role
of the social workers to help the victims in increasing. It has been found that there are many
policies that the Australian Government aimed at framing in order to combat against the
health issues but at the same time, it has heard many criticisms as well. The e-mental health
strategy has helped the needy to take professional help at any point of time and at the same
time has reduced the rates of suicidal attempts and other negative things resulting due to poor
health condition. At the same time, the national mental health strategy has improved the
health condition of the indigenous people because they have been given the right to feel
better and make not consider themselves to be discriminated from others in the society. Thus,
it can be said that the government has been taking adequate decision in order to make the life
of the people simpler and easier and at the same time a better mental status to live a peaceful
life with dignity.

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