Rural mental health given boost

Research from the SA Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and The Australian Centre for Social Innovation found rural people were less likely to seek help than those in metropolitan areas, attributed in part to the stigma associated with mental illness and a culture of self-reliance.

Specifically, the research reported that of those diagnosed with a mental health condition, just one in 10 rural residents were likely to seek help, compared to one in five people in metropolitan areas.

But Fay Fuller Foundation chief executive officer Stacey Thomas suggested the lack of help-seeking was due to a lack of access to appropriate services. And while increasing service access would be helpful, on its own, this was not a viable option to tackle mental health issues.

"We need to look at a more holistic approach rather than just a simple 'if there's an issue, we need a service'," she said.

"What we saw in the research is that while the data says one thing around the health issues people experience, people say the issue is more of the interaction with assistance.

"People want to feel like they have a connection to a practitioner or service provider, rather than having to retell their story to a different practitioner or service provider every two weeks. That kind of thing is really important."

Ms Thomas said the new funding scheme, Our Town, gave the power to rural residents to determine how best to work together to tackle mental health problems.

The Our Town scheme will provide multi-million dollar long-term funding - up to 10 years - for two regional SA towns that submit applications with a strategic vision to address specific mental health problems within their town, with the solution involving people working together, instead of an effort by a single person or group.

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"What we're looking for are towns that are looking to come together and have action on a particular issue, but we're not predefining what that action needs to be," she said.

"We're trying to spread the love and make sure everyone that has some sort of buy in and some sort of potential initiative has the opportunity to potentially access that funding, rather than there just being a single gatekeeper," Ms Thomas said.

Ms Thomas said enquiries received so far demonstrated that there were many towns that were already trying to mobilise approaches to improve mental health that would benefit from the funding.

The Our Town funding scheme, supported by the Fay Fuller Foundation and targeted at improving the mental health of rural towns, will support selected towns for 10 years - well outside a usual funding cycle, according to the organisation's chief executive officer Stacey Thomas.

"It's really hard for anyone to think beyond political cycles of three to five years. It seems to be people's comfort level," she said.

"We're pushing ourselves out of that comfort zone because we know that a minimum 10 years is required to see lasting change, and see something that will last beyond the life of the funding.

"For small regional and rural towns to have access to this kind of funding is unheard of, so we're excited to be able to offer it."

Applications for Our Town funding close on August 5.

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