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Southland mental health services are struggling with staff shortages, as the need for specialist mental health support increases.
Across the country there’re vacancies for 650 full-time mental health workers.
In Southland alone, our hospital desperately needs a mental health clinical psychologist, an adult consultant psychiatrist and an older person’s consultant psychiatrist.
There have also been at least 12 positions advertised recently in Southland for mental health professionals, including an Inpatient Mental Health Unit registered nurse, a Southland Mental Health Emergency Team nurse, a mental health community support worker, a Maternal Mental Health professional, sexual abuse therapists, youth mental health workers, a mental health and addiction practitioner, a child and family mental health professional in Gore and another in Central Otago.
In August I spoke out after it was revealed that high risk mental patients in Invercargill were turning to the local Salvation Army for help, because they had nowhere else to go.
I’m also told it can take several weeks to see a councillor in Southland because there is more need than the system can cope with.
School counsellors are also seeing their workloads increase as they try to fill the gaps.
Labour promised to transform our mental health sector, but despite pouring $1.9 billion into it, all we have seen is reduced access to services, a worsening state of our mental health facilities and an increase in people needing treatment.
National think it’s time for New Zealand to have a dedicated Minister for Mental Health, who has the capacity to lead the sector and deliver meaningful change for our most vulnerable Kiwis.