This opinion piece is featured in the Newcastle Herald.
People in rural, remote and regional communities across Australia deserve better. Our nation is experiencing a critical mental health workforce shortage but it is the people living in these underserviced communities that feel the impact of this shortage the most.
As a nation, we are meeting just 35% of the demand for mental health services. Such a shocking statistic highlights the urgent need for system-wide reform.
Alarmingly, the areas with the lowest number of psychologists providing patient-facing services are the very communities that need them the most. Fewer psychologists per capita mean longer wait times, limited choice of mental health professionals and in some cases, no access at all. Research suggests that rural, remote and regional Australia has some of the highest rates of alcoholism, depression, self-harm and suicide. These communities are crying out for help but their calls are going unanswered. Your postcode should never determine your mental health, yet we continue to see millions of Australians, in some of the most disadvantaged parts of the country, experiencing great difficulty accessing appropriate mental health support.
In the Newcastle local government area, mental health and behavioural problems were the second most prevalent health concern in 2024. Between 2019 and 2023, there were 274 deaths by suicide recorded in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie areas.
Right now, as we face rising cost-of-living pressures and slow mental health system reform, people are struggling to afford the potentially life-saving treatment they need. We know that rates of self-harm and suicide are higher in remote areas compared to major cities and we know that urgent action is needed to generate real change.
So, what’s the answer? It starts with government support. We need the government to step up and provide relocation support, housing support, and financial support for more psychologists to live and work in regional areas to address some of these difficulties. We also need changes to Medicare to reduce the cost for people in regional areas to access a psychologist.
Just like with GPs and nurses, we need to encourage psychologists to study in regional locations, have rural placements supported by government funding, live and work in regional communities by providing incentives such as increasing Medicare rebates. For GPs, Medicare rebates are structured so bulk-billing incentives are higher in rural and remote areas. A similar model for psychologists would make services more affordable for patients and help attract psychologists to underserviced communities.
We also need incentives for psychologists to relocate to rural and remote areas and the Commonwealth Prac Payment to include postgraduate psychology students to help grow the psychology workforce pipeline.
The extensive placement requirements to become a registered psychologist place a heavy financial and logistical burden on students striving to enter the profession. Mandatory placements for psychology students remain unpaid, while similar requirements for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work are financially supported. In our current economic climate, would-be psychologists may choose to take different study and career pathways. Amidst a dire shortage of psychologists, shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to support budding psychologists to enter and stay in the profession?
The message is clear. Strengthening the psychology workforce strengthens our communities. Psychologists are a core pillar of Australia’s mental health system, and one of the most trusted mental health professionals by Australians. Psychologists want to work with the community to improve Australians’ mental health. But our workforce is stretched. We simply do not have enough psychologists in Australia.
We must also ensure Australians can access an adequate number of psychology sessions for optimum care outcomes. Under Medicare, Australians can only access 10 sessions with a psychologist each year. Ten sessions is often not sufficient for a person to achieve a meaningful and lasting change in their mental health. Evidence-based and patient-centred policymaking is crucial to allow Australians to access the sufficient amount of psychology sessions. Attempting to shorten waitlists by denying sufficient access to treatment does not work, and will only increase the burden on psychologists and the mental health system in the longer term.
It is more important than ever to invest in the health of our country for the benefit of current and future generations. We urgently need to support initiatives to bolster the number of qualified psychologists in rural, remote and regional Australia and answer the call of our suffering communities.