Activities and initiatives database

“The GPs have certainly seen the benefits for their patients and the feedback they give us is that we make their lives easier and we do a good job” - West Coast PHO mental health programme manager and psychologist Bev Barron.

The West Coast of the South Island is rugged and beautiful. Home to about 30,000 people this region has faced some significant health challenges, not least attracting and retaining general practice doctors. However, the primary mental health initiative of the Greymouth-based West Coast PHO is providing a shining beacon of hope to people experiencing mild to moderate mental illness on the coast.

The programme was initiated in March 2006. It started with one GP Liaison and a psychologist providing brief intervention counselling of up to six sessions per person. A year later a third person (a qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner) was added to the team, specifically to provide brief intervention counselling.

The target population is those known to have poor health outcomes, such as those in lower socio-economic groups. Initially the programme focused on people 18 years and over. Its aim was to prevent mild to moderate conditions becoming more severe mental health problems. In light of research findings, which have shown that early intervention is key to enhanced outcomes, it was decided that the eligibility age should be lowered.

"We managed to get some more funding to have another psychologist, so now there are four in the team, and we were able to lower the minimum age from 18 to 14 years which I think was a big step forward,” says programme manager and psychologist Bev Barron.

About half the people participating in the programme have been diagnosed with depression. The next most prevalent condition is anxiety followed by stress. In its first two years the programme was assisting between 75 and 90 people per quarter. Now those numbers have increased to between 100 and 120 per quarter.

“When the initiative started there was some talk that maybe there would be a lot of people [who would] come into the programme initially, then once the bulk of people had been seen there wouldn’t be any more demand,” Bev says. “Well the demand hasn’t slackened off. In fact, as the doctors and nurses become more aware of the programme and understand how it works, they are more willing to request our services. They’ve certainly seen the benefits for their patients and the feedback they give us is that we make their lives easier and we do a good job,” she says.