The state government today announced major changes to the way community-based mental health support was delivered across the state. 

The changes are part of the recommissioning of $74 million per year in Mental Health Community Support Services.

The reform consolidates funding from 11 different funded programs into four.

The state government initiated a recommissioning process for mental health community support services last year, and St Luke’s Anglicare and Mallee Family Care submitted a joint tender for the delivery of state-funded mental health services across the Loddon Mallee region. 

The consortium was told yesterday it was selected to only deliver services in the northern Loddon Mallee region including Mildura, Swan Hill, Buloke and Gannawarra.

St Luke’s will take a lead role in the consortium, providing a catchment planning function across the Loddon Mallee region.

But as a result of this process, St Luke’s will no longer deliver mental health services in the Loddon Mallee southern catchment. 

St Luke’s acting chief executive Lauren Bean said the shock announcement would significantly impact the organisation’s workforce and clients. 

“St Luke’s has always valued the dedication and professionalism of our mental health service employees, and we will work hard to support staff in every aspect,'' she said.

Ms Bean said it was still early days, and the full implications of this decision were still unclear. 

“For decades our agency has consistently delivered high-quality services to people in our community, and our workers have built strong bonds with clients,'' she said.

“A change of service provider will undoubtedly bring significant change and impact to the lives of our clients.” 

Ms Bean said that while St Luke’s had always fostered a sense of staff and community support, this was a challenging time for the organisation. 

“I thank staff for their care and commitment in the work they do, and for those impacted by this announcement, I sincerely extend my heartfelt support.”

Minister for Mental Health Mary Wooldridge said the reforms would better support adults and young people with mental illness to live independently, maintain the best possible social and emotional wellbeing and live satisfying lives in the community, regardless of where they live. 

“I am delighted to announce 20 providers will deliver flexible support packages, new local intake assessment and a revitalised youth residential rehabilitation program for people with mental illness across the state,” she said. 

The announcement follows a six-month, two-stage selection process in which service providers were assessed on the quality of their service delivery, their capacity to meet the individual needs of clients and their expertise and experience in mental health support. 

Ms Wooldridge said the new model would offer individual tailored plans, a single intake system which will make it simpler for people to access services and an improved youth residential rehabilitation system to better link young people to the health and community services they need to recover. 

The reforms also introduce a centralised planning function for each region, which will be tasked with functions including prioritising support for people with severe mental health conditions, more thoroughly assess the needs of dependent children and engage families and carers in an individual’s recovery. 

“Reforms such as this inevitably mean change for providers and staff as well as clients,'' Ms Wooldridge said.

"Our transition support investment will allow things such as free-call phone lines for clients, dedicated workers to actively support clients through transition as well as support for peak bodies to provide professional development training for staff.

“Mental health services, families, carers and people with a mental illness have been calling for change and our reform will deliver improved access to better quality services and greater flexibility to respond to individual needs.''