Tara Murray
More funding will be allocated to build and support Victoria’s mental health workforce.
The state government has released a blueprint which will include extra funding to immediately deliver more than 350 jobs to make sure the once-in-a-generation mental health reforms are matched with a workforce to deliver the specialist care Victorians need, close to home.
The new Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy 2021-2024 will guide the government’s work to grow the mental health system’s most important asset: a workforce that delivers world-class care, with clinicians who feel rewarded and supported in their vital work.
The strategy was a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system and includes initiatives to deliver four key priorities: increasing workforce supply, improving workforce skills, knowledge and capabilities, supporting the safety, wellbeing and retention of the workforce; and supporting better system
planning and sustainability.
The strategy is being delivered alongside an immediate investment of $41 million, which will support an extra 358 full-time equivalent positions across the mental health system, allocated to boost the workforce at existing services as well as staffing new services across the state delivered as part of the system’s reform.
While the strategy steps out a pathway for Victoria, it acknowledges that professional organisations and other levels of government – including the Commonwealth, also need to invest to deliver real, lasting change.
The state government will continue to advocate to the federal government to help Victoria deliver a pipeline of local tertiary education and training opportunities – and strengthened skilled and student migration pathways – that will support a strong, sustainable mental health workforce for many years to come.
Acting Premier and Minister for Mental Health James Merlino said while the government builds the mental health facilities the state needs, they are also investing in workers.
“This plan means more than 350 workers to help those who need it right now, and a pipeline of thousands more in the coming years.
“There’s never been a better time to consider a career in mental health – we’re growing our system in every corner of the state, and we need hundreds of Victorians to join the sector at every level.”
