Some difficulties in attaining mental health services.

I am now retired, however my last position was as a mental health support worker with the Salvation Army. Many of our clients had been with the service for quite a while and stated that the service was very helpful for them. There was no real cut off age for our clients but when the NDIS arrived, their cutoff age was 65. Anyone over this age became ineligible for any services. They then were told to approach Aged Care Mental Health Services. The older clients in our service had been with us for a long time (we had a drop in centre where everyone happily congregated) but when they attempted to engage with Aged Care Mental Health Services, there was nothing for them there. At age 65, most people still are very switched on and do not regard themselves as aged. I strongly feel that 65 should not be the cutoff age for mental health services, perhaps depending on the individual.

Another difficulty within mental health services is that there never seems to be enough staff or places for clients and some services are expensive.