Boost for mentally ill

KERRIELYN CLARK

WORK on and recruitment for Shellharbour Hospital’s new $6.9m mental health rehabilitation unit is in its final stages with the first patients to be seen within weeks.

The 20-bed unit overlooking Lake Illawarra will offer specialist mental health rehabilitation programs to help those who have been hospitalised move back into the community.

The home-like rehab unit and a new, also soon-to-be completed, $1.2m child and adolescent mental health day program are part of $15.7m of enhancements to mental health services underway throughout the Illawarra.

Shellharbour MP Lylea McMahon said the long-awaited facility would be an invaluable part of the hospital’s mental health service.

“This Government has been very committed to the expansion of services across the Illawarra and this unit is a significant part of that expansion,’’ Ms McMahon said.

“The unit is the step between hospital and the community and is certainly an area that is needed.’’

The assistant secretary of the mental health support group Mentally Ill Do Deserve A Say (MIDDAS), Rhonda Walsh welcomed the unit as a key component for treating people with a mental illness.

Speaking at the start of Mental Health Week, Ms Walsh said continuity of care was crucial for people with a mental illness.

“Some patients may have been in hospital for a couple of years and this rehabilitation is going to be a great help to teach them the skills like cooking and cleaning to go back into the community,’’ she said.

Ms Walsh said MIDDAS was using Mental Health Week to raise awareness and to continue to raise money for a wishlist of patient items such as guitars and TVs.

The group will have information stalls throughout Mental Health Week. beginning on October 5.

Sunday and Monday it will be held at Westfields Figtree, Tuesday at Warilla Grove, Wednesday Stocklands Shellharbour, Thursday Unanderra Woolworths, Friday Shellharbour Hospital and Saturday, Woolworths Unanderra.