Cash for for mental health study
The NSW Government will provide $50,000 to fund a new project aimed at increasing the understanding of mental health issues inside the GLBT community.
Deputy Premier and health minister Carmel Tebbutt presented the grant to ACON to fund early planning and scoping works for the Peace of Mind project which will determine improved strategies to respond to the mental health needs of the GLBT community.
“Research has found that the GLBT community reports higher levels of depression and other mental health problems, and the Peace of Mind project aims to better cater to and address those needs,” Tebbutt said.
“Peace of Mind will focus on improving understanding of GLBT issues among service providers and also improve access and effective treatment opportunities for GLBT people with mental health problems.”
Tebbutt acknowledged ACON’s role in providing counselling, therapy and support services to the GLBT community.
“ACON has been responding to mental health issues for people with HIV, or at risk of HIV, for 25 years,” ACON president Mark Orr said, welcoming the grant.
“Support from the NSW Government through the HIV program for these services has been invaluable. However, there is mounting evidence that our community is disproportionately impacted by mental health problems.”
Orr pointed to the results of the Longitudinal Study of the Health of Australian Women, which found that more than double the number of same-sex attracted women aged 22 to 27 had experienced depression in comparison to similarly-aged heterosexual women.
“Rates of suicide and suicidal ideation for GLBT people are also much higher — up to 14 times higher than heterosexual people,” Orr said.
“The NSW GLBT community will benefit from learning more about mental health problems, how they present, and clarification of the treatment options available as a result of the Peace of Mind initiative and the support for it from the NSW Government.”
WOW $50,000! You are lucky to receive any money even recognition for the LGBT community.
Here in Queensland, we may get a small crumb from the table, mostly sometimes served up by floral frocked, hopeless.
What a dreadful mess in QLD for the Mentally disabled. Silence, thuggery, rape, bashings, incompetence, very little Police training, cover ups, harassment and intimidation of Carers. Nothing has changed here since the Joh days. Good luck anyway, it’s a start.
What a complete waste of money.
$50,000 is NOT enough money.
I’m sorry, but what a complete waste of money. We have all the analysis, the data, to tell us that rates of depression, anxiety, suicide etc. are higher in the gay, lesbian and trans communities than in the mainstream population. ACON can give me the $500K and I’ll tell the government a strategy.
Spend more money on Mental Health! Open more headspace centres for youth! Increase funding to hospitals to deal with mental health. Increase funds to NGOs who deal with the issues on the frontline!
I commend Carmel for holding up a bit of cardboard championing equality, but really, until both the ALP and the Liberal Party actually pay any heed to the needs of those with mental health issues and take REAL action, this money is wasted money.
I wonder if this program will actually target the whole GLBT community rather than the limited gay and lesbian community that ACON traditionally targets. A recent study by QAHC showed that within the GLBT community, trans* people face the highest levels of discrimination and social stigma. Although there have not been enough decent studies into the wellbeing of trans* people, it is generally acknowledged that indicators such as depression and suicide rates are worse in the trans* community than the mainstream gay and lesbian population.