New mental health services in Brisbane North

Following an invitation to tender process, Brisbane North PHN is excited to announce that a range of new mental health services will roll out from 1 July 2019.

Brisbane North PHN will support the establishment of three new integrated mental health service hubs. The hubs will support people with severe mental illness by integrating a range of clinical and non-clinical supports within the one service. 

“The PHN expects that funding integrated hubs will improve access to services for people with severe mental illness,” said Paul Martin, Brisbane North Executive Manager for Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs.

After a competitive process with ten proposals received, the tender assessment panel selected the following organisations to establish the hubs:

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital catchment: Communify, in partnership with Toowong Private Hospital, Brisbane Youth Service, Open Minds headspace, Eating Disorders Queensland, and Wesley Mission will operate the Recovery and Discovery Centre.

Prince Charles Hospital catchment: Neami National will operate the Living and Learning Centre.

Redcliffe/Caboolture catchment: Aftercare with operate Floresco Caboolture.

The services currently provided by the Mental Health Nursing in Brisbane North (MHNiB) program will be delivered by the three service hubs from 1 July 2019.

In addition to the care coordination, physical healthcare and brief intervention psychological services currently provided under MHNiB, participants will be able to access psychosocial support and a broad range of individual and group based programs through the hubs. Additionally, the service hubs will support people to access the NDIS.

Referrals to the MHNiB program will cease 30 June 2019 and current participants of the program will be supported to transition to the service hubs over the coming weeks.

General practitioners and service providers with participants in the MHNiB program will be contacted by the MHNiB program mental health nurses to discuss plans for individual participants.

How To Refer To The Service Hubs

To be eligible people must:

• be 18 years and over
• have a diagnosable severe or severe and complex mental illness (episodic or persistent)
• be experiencing significant disruption to their daily life, wellbeing and functioning.

People who are experiencing acute mental illness should continue to be referred to Metro North Mental Health Services via 1300 MH CALL.

To refer participants to Brisbane North PHN funded services, including the service hubs from 1 July 2019, GPs and service providers should complete the Brisbane MIND Plus referral form via GP Integrator or HealthPathways.

If your organisation does not have this software installed we recommend you contact your Brisbane North PHN Primary Care Liaison Officer (PCLO) to organise installation or contact the Brisbane North Service Navigation team on 1800 752 235, who will complete the Brisbane MIND Plus tool on your behalf.

Brisbane MIND Services

The refocused Brisbane MIND program will deliver short term psychological therapies to underserviced population groups who have moderate mental illness and are experiencing financial hardship.

The new model will have a greater focus on wrap-around support and delivery of specialist services to specified population groups.

Forty-one applications were received across the five streams that went to tender. Separate tender assessment panels selected the following organisations to deliver the programs:

• for children (0-11) in Moreton Bay North / Redcliffe-North Lakes – Yourtown and in Pine Rivers / Brisbane North / Brisbane Inner City / Brisbane West – Aftercare
• for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer/questioning in all sub-regions – Queensland Aids Council
• for culturally and linguistically diverse populations in all sub-regions – World Wellness Group
• for people at risk of suicide in all sub-regions – Health4Minds
• for people who have experienced trauma and abuse in Brisbane Inner City – Axis Psychology and in Moreton Bay North / Redcliffe-North Lakes / Pine Rivers / Brisbane North / Brisbane West – Health4Minds.

For further information about the new program and how to refer, please contact Stephen Giles on 07 3490 3426 or stephen.giles@brisbanenorthphn.org.au.