GSSC Psychiatrist Dr Coleman selected as National Mental Health Commissioner Special Announcement:GSSC Psychiatrist Associate Professor Mat Coleman selected as National Mental Health Commissioner
Our resident Psychiatrist at the Great Southern Specialist Centre Assoc Prof Mat Coleman has recently been given the honour of being appointed a Commissioner for the National Mental Health Commission (NMHC). Assoc Prof Coleman was nominated from within the Commission for the position and eventually selected to join seven other Commissioners with the aim to provide evidence and advice on ways to continuously improve Australia’s mental health and suicide prevention system. Assoc Prof Coleman is a highly experienced Psychiatrist who specialises in Rural and Remote Mental Health, Child, Youth and Addiction Psychiatry in addition to helping Veterans due to his military background working in Germany during the Gulf War as a Brigade Psychiatrist with the British Army. The other Commissioners have a range of backgrounds including consumer advocates, carer advocates, public health and general practice academics. Assoc Prof Coleman said he felt he was selected due to the combination of his Psychiatry and Rural background because all of his speciality areas and experiences were strong focuses of the NMHC. "What counts for me is real change, I don't want to just talk about what needs to be done in our mental health system. There is a huge responsibility that comes with this appointment to achieve better mental health outcomes for Australians and in particular rural Australians. I would like to see rural Australians having similar access to the basic services and health professionals that are available in cities. "I'd also like to see opportunities for young people who grow up in rural areas to train in mental health, be it social work, nursing, occupational therapy, psychology or medicine. At the moment, they are either not given the chance or have to move away to train, with very few ever returning. It is so important to have a locally based workforce to ensure we have sustainable, healthy rural communities. Being reliant on the larger cities for services is not sustainable for country towns in the long term." Due to this new role and in addition to Dr Coleman's commitments with the WA Country Health Service, and his academic and research roles with the Rural Clinical School of WA, his availability to take on new referrals at the GSSC will be reduced. For further information contact the Great Southern Specialist Centre on 08 9841 3500. |