Working in mental health

Page content: Clinical Services | Psychiatric disability rehabilitation and support (PDRS) services | The Department of Health | Unions

Mental health professionals have the opportunity to work in a wide range of settings in metropolitan, regional and remote locations across Victoria. These include:

• community settings
• residential settings
• hospitals
• psychosocial rehabilitation
• home-based outreach services
• respite
• forensic settings
• emergency departments
• training, education and quality improvement areas
• academic organisations (such as universities)
• research organisations
• administration.

In the public mental health system professionals work mainly in two sectors:

• clinical services across inpatient, emergency departments and community-based sites
• psychiatric disability rehabilitation and support (PDRS) services that are provided by the non-government community organisations.

For general information on how mental health services operate in Victoria, see An introduction to Victoria's public clinical mental health services (pdf, 507kb) - January 2006 which provides an overview of services, issues in mental health and skills required for workers.

Clinical Services

Public mental health clinical services employ medical, nursing and allied health professionals and other direct care and support staff who provide specialist care across a broad spectrum from prevention to treatment and rehabilitation.

Clinical environments include:

• child and adolescent mental health services (for consumers aged 0–18 years) – see the Child and Youth Mental Health Service Redesign Demonstration Projects (0-25) webpage for more information
• adult mental health services (for those aged 16–64 years), made up of:
  • acute psychiatric inpatient services
  • rehabilitation units or secure extended care units (SECU)
  • community mental health services such as:
    • continuing care services
    • mobile support and treatment services
    • crisis assessment treatment services
    • youth early psychosis services
    • primary mental health teams
• older persons mental health services (for people aged 65 years and over) such as:
  • Victorian aged care assessment services
  • aged psychiatric inpatient services
• prevention and recovery care (PARC) (PARC services are usually provided as a partnership between clinical and PDRS services; they are not available in all areas)
• homeless outreach services (HOPS) (HOPS provide a specialist clinical and treatment response for people who do not engage readily with mental health services; HOPS are not available in all areas)
• statewide specialist mental health services, which provide clinical, teaching, research and advisory services for:
  • family
  • forensic
  • dual disability
  • dual diagnosis
  • brain disorders
  • early psychosis
  • eating disorders
  • Koori services
  • mother–baby services
  • neuropsychiatric services
  • personality disorder services
  • transcultural psychiatry services
  • psychotropic drug advisory services

Psychiatric disability rehabilitation and support (PDRS) services

The PDRS sector partners with clinical services to provide rehabilitation support so that people with mental illness can rehabilitate out of hospital.

The staff at PDRS services address the impact of mental illness on a person's daily activities and associated disabilities. These include:

• psychosocial support services (non-medical)
• accommodation and support
• education, training and consultancy
• employment services
• consumer and carer mutual support services
• crisis and emergency relief
• advocacy and support
• personal help and mentoring.

The Department of Health

The Victorian Department of Health supports the Minister for Health and the Minister for Mental Health and Senior Victorians. Its Mental Health, Drugs and Regions (MHDR) division is responsible for the public mental health service system consisting of clinical services and PDRS services, as well as a range of alcohol and drug prevention and treatment services.

Unions

Unions are responsible for organising and representing the interests of their members. In Victoria, the relevant unions for the mental health sector are the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU), the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) and the Australian Services Union (ASU). They:

• provide representation when negotiating an enterprise agreement or award
• arrange workforce inspections for OH&S matters
• champion social issues
• advocate at the state and Commonwealth levels
• engage in other activities that promote the rights of workers.

The department works and negotiates collaboratively with relevant unions in an open and accountable way, with the aim of continuing to develop high-performing, cooperative and fair workplaces throughout Victoria.

More information on relevant unions for the mental health sector is available at their websites:

• Australian Nursing Federation (ANF)
• Australian Services Union (ASU)
• Health and Community Services Union (HACSU)

  ^Top