Examining Social Welfare Services for Mental Health in Australia

This case study analyzes the social welfare system in Australia, focusing on a 45-year-old man suffering from depression and anxiety after losing his job and facing personal difficulties. The study identifies the Red Cross as a suitable social welfare system for his recovery, highlighting programs like PHaMs, Mates, and Bridges that aim to integrate individuals with mental illness into the community and strengthen their social networks. It recommends housing support and mental health services for long-term stability and emphasizes the importance of early intervention programs like Save-a-Mate for younger individuals. The study concludes that a combination of medical interventions and social support can significantly improve the well-being of individuals struggling with mental health issues, enabling them to lead more productive and socially connected lives. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: Social Welfare System
SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM

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Social Welfare System
The relevance of social welfare system and services can be felt in many areas of life
because this helps in improving the living standards of people in any way. So, this study has
focused on one such issue that needs special social welfare care in Australia. One case study has
been given that has been analysed in this study in order to identify one particular social welfare
system in Australia. For that reason, the identified social welfare system has been discussed in
this study along with a discussion on the required social services and programmes relevant for
this scenario. Moreover, some recommendations have been given that can be useful for the
concerned person to access the appropriate social services.
The chosen case study is about a 45 years old man who has been suffering from
depression from his teenage years. His daily life has been affected by some recent anxiety attacks
due to which he has lost his job. So, now he is jobless and mentally ill person who is not aware
of where to seek help. He lives alone as he is divorced and he did not get custody of his 5 year
old child. The main issue of this person is that he feels to be a failure at every role he was
supposed to play in his entire life. So, it can be said that social welfare services related to mental
health support will not be the only requirement as per his present situation. He needs to be
associated with any kind of job that can help him financially and can help him interacting with
other social beings. However, his permanent mental sickness has to be identified and treated as
soon as possible.
Australia has been investing a lot of governmental and non-governmental efforts in order
to give resources to the people suffering from any kind of mental illness. Australian department
of social services have come up with various social welfare services and programmes that can be
helpful to maintain the wellbeing of the people suffering from mental illness. In 2014, the
department has come up with Community Mental Health Activity that has provided funding to
many governmental organisations so that they can support the mentally sick people by giving
them relevant social support (Australian government department of social services, 2019). The
concerned person in the case study can be benefitted from this initiative as this initiative can help
him handling his employment issues.
On the other hand, another Australian organisation namely the Red Cross has been
helping many social issues since 1997. This organisation has been promoting an increased

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Social Welfare System
participation from the part of the people facing mental illness in the mainstream living. The
organisation claims that they support the mentally ill people to be independent. This feature can
also be beneficial for the chosen client. The relevant social programme for this situation includes
the personal helpers and mentors program or PHaMs (The power of humanity, 2019). The
purpose of this social programme is to give required support to the people who are suffering
from any kind of mental illness so that they can start participating in their community. On the
other hand, other programs like Mates can also be helpful for treating the 45 years old man
struggling with depression. This can be said because this social programme provides assistance
for those who feels left out and have lack of social networks to participate in social activities. As
per the background of the client, it can be said that the individual needs to be more social so that
he does not have to deal with his problems alone.
Another similar social service programme under Red Cross is Bridges that aims at
strengthening the social networks that can be beneficial to uplift the positive mental health of the
people suffering of mental diseases. In the case of the chosen client, it is highly needed that the
person gets the chance and opportunities to be socially connected with people of his age or with
other social beings. This is very much important for pushing him into a productive life where
mental illness will no longer be able to affect his activities. After identifying the seriousness of
his mental illness, programmes like housing support mental health services can be recommended
for him that can help maintaining his stable mental condition for a long time. Other awareness
programmes like Talk OUT Loud conducts various workshops so that people of Australia can be
more open about discussing their psychological issues with one another (The power of humanity,
2019). There is a possibility that minimal medical interventions and maximum social help can
cure a person like our client to overcome own mental issues. This is because people like him are
going through a rough time from a very long time both personally and professionally.
After analysing the case scenario of this 45 years old man, it can be said that depression
has been a constant companion of many people throughout a very long period of life starting
from teenage years. So, it can be assumed that the disease has become more affective because of
lack of intervention during the initial signs of mental diseases in the minds of the people. Thus,
social programmes like save-a-mate can be the perfect social welfare programme for younger

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people for creating awareness regarding the effects of mental sickness (The power of humanity,
2019). On the other hand, programmes like Companionship and social support can be very useful
to be a support system for those who are in the middle of medical interventions for their
psychological issues. This programme can help our client as well in order to blend in the rhythm
of social life through various facilities like social calls, peer support, social outings and many
more.
This study has revolved around choosing the appropriate social welfare system for the
chosen client who has been suffering from depression from his teenage years and has now living
a lonely life at 45 years of age. For that reason, Red Cross has been identified as the most
appropriate social welfare system for him to recover from his mental illness.

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Reference list
Australian government department of social services (2019), Mental Health, Retrieved on: 4th
June, 2019, From: https://www.dss.gov.au/mental-health
The power of humanity (2019), Companionship and social support, Retrieved on: 4th June, 2019,
From: https://www.redcross.org.au/get-help/community-services/companionship-social-
support
The power of humanity (2019), Mental health support services, Retrieved on: 4th June, 2019,
From: https://www.redcross.org.au/get-help/community-services/mental-health-services
The power of humanity (2019), save-a-mate, Retrieved on: 4th June, 2019, From:
https://www.redcross.org.au/about-us/how-we-help/save-a-mate