Please note that this is the registration page for the evening event to be held on 19 March 2019 at 8pm AEDT. To register for the afternoon event, please click here.

Mental Health Care in Rural Australia

Rural areas in Australia struggle to get the kind of services they need. Mental health care is no exception. Obstacles include the tyrrany of distance, deficits in communication services and the relative scarcity of appropriately qualified service providers. There is also the enduring problem of cultural attitudes and stigma associated with mental health issues to overcome

In this webinar

In this webinar we will have the opportunity to discuss the problems in care delivery in rural Australia – from the point of view of both consumers and service providers. In the course of that discussion we hope to stimulate ideas about what we can do as practitioners to improve mental health care delivery and what we can contribute to community efforts to imporve mental health.

Whilst the webinar will focus on rural Australia many of the issues discussed will also apply to those living and working in urban and metropolitan settings.

Webinar pre-reading

• In preparation for the webinar you may wish to listen to a podcast by Dr Julia Reynolds and featuring rurally based clinical psychologist Jamie Marshall about integrating online resources into clinical practice
• Wayne Wighams episode on the Being Well Podcast, during which he discusses his lived experience of mental illness

The webinar series

The webinar series examines some of the online mental health treatment programs that GPs need to know about, focusing on evidence-based programs that have been developed in Australia. The evidence around the efficacy and usefulness of different programs will be discussed along with practical aspects of using the programs.

Summary:

• e-Mental Health programs are a useful adjunct to mental health treatment in primary care
• there is good evidence that patient outcomes improve with the use of e-Mental Health programs
• a variety of locally-developed e-Mental Health programs are available
• GPs need to be familiar with the programs their patients are using and be able to recommend the use of these programs appropriately.

Audience

GPs and GP registrars, psychologists and allied mental health practitioners, in fact any health professional with an interest in improving outcomes for patients with mental health conditions.