When Benn Veenker first confided in his GP about his struggle with depression and alcohol, he was holding back the full extent of his addictions.
“I was so scared of being able to say to somebody, ‘I can’t get through a day without drinking,’” he said.
Veenker works as a drugs and alcohol counsellor and now understands he was battling a serious health problem during his decade-long struggle with alcohol and drug use.
“I just thought I was a weak-willed person who was just useless and that was the stigma that got in the way of accessing treatment,” he said.
A new centre designed to support people with addiction and mental health issues under the same roof this week opened in Melbourne.
The creation of such a centre was a key recommendation from the state’s landmark mental health royal commission to help tackle the issue of the two sectors operating independently of each other. That separation has led to people experiencing addiction being turned away from traditional mental health services, leading to patients falling through the cracks.
Veenker recovered after inpatient rehabilitation treatment more than 10 years ago, but said a centre like this would have allowed him to access treatment sooner.
“It feels like a no-brainer so people don’t have to bounce between services” he said.
The addiction and mental health centre will be run by Turning Point – Australia’s leading addiction treatment and research centre – and is named after the founding director of the organisation, Margaret Hamilton. The centre’s training and research arms will help develop best-practice models and train the state’s mental health workforce.
The clinical director at the $21.5m Hamilton centre, Dr Shalini Arunogiri, said staff would listen to patients about barriers they have previously faced in getting help.
“There will not be any shame, judgment, stigma associated with getting help when someone walks through that door,” she said.
Arunogiri said over the past two decades mental illness and substance addiction had been previously treated separately – in Australia and internationally – due to limited university training in addiction and addiction historically not being viewed as a health issue.
She said the stigma meant someone may not, at the first instance, disclose their substance problem when seeking help for their mental health.
“Mental health services need to incorporate that into their thinking and be welcoming and have a conversation that invites them to be able to share that story,” she said.
The Victorian chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Dr Astha Tomar, said years of underfunding had led to a small pool of specialist psychiatrists.
Tomar said the solution needed to focus on making the public health system more attractive and ensuring psychiatrists were involved in policy reform to boost staff levels in mental health frontline roles.
The royal commission had recommended the government create a state-wide specialist addiction and mental health service to provide treatment and research. The inquiry also recommended the government increase the number of addiction specialist psychiatrists in the state.
The report from the inquiry, finalised in 2021, found Victoria’s mental health system was unable to keep up with the number of people seeking help and that stigma and discrimination were widespread. It made 65 recommendations.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000. International helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org.
