Ballarat the only major Victorian regional city without mental health hub
Ballarat remains the only major regional centre in Victoria without a Mental Health and Wellbeing Local, despite Royal Commission recommendations.
Business and community leaders in Ballarat want state election candidates to fund a Mental Health and Wellbeing Local for the region. The Royal Commission recommended these facilities.
Ballarat alone among major regional centres does not have one. Grampians Health data shows higher rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, self-harm and family violence than Victoria overall.
More than 7,000 Central Highlands residents live with serious mental illness. Ballarat has the second-lowest number of mental health beds per person in the state.
Acute patients go to emergency departments because nowhere else will take them. On any given day, one or two are admitted to a general ward.
They wait for a mental health bed.
Why it mattersPeople needing urgent psychiatric care now wait in general wards designed for other patients. They are supervised by regular nurses, not specialists. These spaces include children and the public.
AustraliaRegional Victorians in Ballarat and the Central Highlands face delays in accessing mental health treatment, with thousands living with serious mental illness in an area that lacks basic specialist infrastructure.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 6 d ago
