Dear members,
The Victorian Opposition has this week announced an election commitment worth millions of dollars towards APS-designed solutions to Victoria’s psychology workforce issues.
Victoria currently has the most strain on psychological services in the nation, with 38 per cent of psychologists unable to see new patients due to overwhelming demand compared to the national average of 30 per cent. If elected, the Coalition will provide the APS with funding to train an additional 750 supervisors across the state and fund an APS ‘digital matching’ platform for graduates to easily connect with supervisors.
This investment will increase Victoria’s capacity to supervise an additional 1,300 psychologists over the next two years within the public and private sector.
While much more is needed, such as increasing university places and making patient care more accessible and affordable, this is an important step in the right direction.
While workforce issues are a nationwide problem this Victorian announcement is a positive sign that psychology, psychologists, and the APS are being heard. We face many challenges as a profession trying to meet unprecedented demand, but we also have the practical, future-focused solutions that appeal to governments.
The announcement follows extensive consultation with the Victorian Shadow Minister for Mental Health Emma Kealy MP, one of many minsters and policymakers we are meeting with to increase the psychology workforce. We thank her for her engagement and leadership.
This commitment is an acknowledgement of the lifesaving work members have undertaken in recent years and is one important step in unclogging the workforce bottlenecks plaguing our system.
We are also continuing to increase community awareness and put pressure on governments through extensive media engagement raising the issues you’ve told us matter most and will continue to do so. Next week, I will share further details about our work in this space, including the positive changes that have occurred and how our members can get involved in future advocacy.
I look forward to continuing to advocate alongside you to ensure accessible, affordable, high quality mental health care for all Australians.
Yours sincerely,
Tamara