A NEW mental health facility will transform rural mental health care in south-west Victoria.
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The new Portland Community Mental Health Service was officially unveiled by Minister for Mental Health James Merlino via Zoom on Tuesday afternoon.
The state government provided $1.49 million towards the $1.94 million service to be run by South West Healthcare.
"It's located in close proximity to Portland District Health, ensuring mental health services provide flexible, responsive and acceptable care," Mr Merlino said.
"With more space and a better layout, this new facility has purpose-built spaces for individual and group therapeutic activities and additional private consulting rooms so more members of the local community can get the help they need sooner.
"New telehealth and video conferencing facilities will also break down cost and travel barriers that can also prevent people from getting the support they need.
"By increasing capacity and providing safety, privacy and efficiency, we're delivering on our promise of providing better mental health care to Victorians no matter where they live."
More than 100 Portland residents worked together to deliver the Percy Street facility.
In early 2018 South West Healthcare bought the land adjacent to the healthcare precinct in Portland.
SWH chief executive Craig Fraser said it was a top priority to integrate health services in Portland.
"Integrating services is extremely important to ensure mental health is seen as part of everything we all do," he said.
"It was very pleasing to receive state government funding for this $1.94 million project in late 2018 with construction commencing in March this year.
"It remarkable to have achieved this in such a short period.
"The concept of this project was to improve the client experience and support contemporary models of care and provide the community with a service that is flexible, responsive and accessible.
"The design brief was simple: we wanted to create spaces that improved safety and privacy and to support best practice; an increased number of consulting rooms to improve timely access and earlier intervention to mental health services; and to provide a facility that is acceptable and inclusive to all, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and consumers across the lifespan from very young to very aged persons."
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SWH chair Bill Brown said it would facilitate holistic access for patients, with a sensory garden and plenty of natural light.
"It will allow better health support for rural people," he said. "It also offers a safe space for our workforce."
Portland District Health chief executive Chris Giles says it's a big improvement to Portland to have mental health care so close to other health services in town.
"It means staff will have much better buildings to work within, in location of the health precinct and right near all the GP clinics and the hospital," she said.
"It's really good to see the services all located together with easy access between services.
"It's a really central location for people to come to."
Latest data shows that between 2014 and 2018, suicide was the ninth-highest cause of death in men in Warrnambool City, Corangamite Shire and Southern Grampians Shire.
In Moyne Shire suicide is the 13th highest cause of death in men, and the 12th highest among men in Colac Otway Shire.
Fortunately it is not among the top 20 leading causes of death in Glenelg Shire.
Katrina Thorpe, youth mental health officer at Djab Wurrung Elderly and Community Health Service said the organisation painted a representation of mental health for the centre.
"The meaning behind the river is the storyline of the same person going through different stages of life," she explained.
"The person is the victim of mental health, the circles represent the stars, the fire represents bad energy, the rain is the cure, the emu footprints represent others joining the journey, and the bottom dark rock represents the dark side of transformation.
"The meeting place represents the journey of healing."
Architect Jakob Kelly said he worked with the psychology team in Portland solving some of the functional problems at their old community mental health site and to create an emotionally-sensitive space for patients.
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