Commissioner visits Theodore

Dr Lesley van Schoubroeck visited the township of Theodore on Thursday 15 May.

The visit was hosted by Dr Bruce Chater who chairs the Statewide Rural and Remote Clinical Network. Dr van Schoubroeck was joined by consulting psychiatrist Associate Professor Mohan Gilhotra.

"We held discussions with local people and providers about mental health issues especially those related to rural isolated communities," she said.

"We have conducted a number of visits over the last few months, most recently to Charleville and Emerald. The trip to Theodore gave us additional local perspectives.

"There are some things that can be done to improve access and we are continuing to seek local perspectives on priorities and implementation. There is more scope, for instance, to use tele-psychiatry to improve access to mental health services and we have started to develop guidelines which will make these services more effective. We are also looking at ways to make mental health services more accessible through general health and other community services.

We have been told that communities see value in a specific intervention and prevention strategies and want to explore more around what that might mean and who would be responsible. People in Theodore were very clear that this would be built into existing local structures.

Finally we are working with Queensland Health to ensure there is a single web based portal through which people can find services in their local areas.

"I enjoyed hearing from local mental health sector providers about the work they do in  Theodore and how we can all work together in the future. Because issues change and we need to make sure the lines of communication are open.

"Although facing some similar issues (like drought) to other communities in Queensland, Theodore is its own town with its own issues and that's what we heard again on our visit," Dr van Schoubroeck said.