Become part of a team who are dedicated to enhancing and connecting primary healthcare to achieve better health outcomes for the South Western Sydney community.
Find your next South Western Sydney general practice career or practice for sale.
Practice vacancy ad request form
Practice for sale formService Announcement
South Western Sydney residents will have access to a second Medicare Mental Health Centre when the new Campbelltown service opens in October.
South Western Sydney PHN (SWSPHN) has commissioned Grand Pacific Health and its partners Odyssey House, Relationship Australia and Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation, to operate the Campbelltown centre.
The centre will provide free, walk-in, mental health and wellbeing support without the need for an appointment, referral or Medicare card.
Grand Pacific Health is a recognised health service provider, and currently manages Medicare Mental Health Centres at Moruya, Shellharbour, Wagga Wagga and Young.
Medicare Mental Health Centres are designed to be a welcoming place where everyone can access free and confidential mental health information, services and support from multidisciplinary care teams made up of social workers, psychologists, nurses, and peer support workers.
The centres are also open extended hours.
The centres offer:
- immediate help and follow-up for people who are in distress
- support for people with mental health concerns
- support for carers and families of people experiencing mental health distress
- help connecting people with other services to support them in the future, from health to mental health, and social supports like housing and employment
SWSPHN Chief Executive Officer, Dr Keith McDonald PhD, said a second Medicare Mental Health Service would further boost access to mental health and wellbeing services in the region for adults experiencing moderate to high levels of distress or crisis.
“What makes Medicare Mental Health Centres so effective is the holistic approach they provide,” he said.
“People can simply walk-in to access on-the-spot free support from a trained mental health professional. If a person receives immediate assistance, it often reduces the level of mental and emotional distress they feel.
“They are then guided to access or connect to the specific mental health and related services they are assessed as needing.
“Peer support workers, with their own lived experience of mental illness, are also on hand to support clients with empathy and understanding.”
The Campbelltown centre comes in addition to the Liverpool Medicare Mental Health Centre (formerly Liverpool Head to Health Centre) which opened in 2023 and is located at 203 Northumberland Street, Liverpool.
The Liverpool centre has provided support to almost 900 individuals since it opened in August 2023, and delivered close to 12,000 hours of service.
Anyone can access Medicare Mental Health Centres.
There is no cost, no appointment, no referral nor is a Medicare card needed, and clients don’t need to be an Australian citizen to access support.