The pandemic has seen community need for psychological support rise dramatically. GPs are noticing it, not just in terms of the numbers of distressed patients they are seeing, but in terms of how hard it has become to find specialist mental health help for those patients. Psychologists have long wait times and many have had to close their books to new patients. In rural and remote communities psychiatrists are often not available at all and even telehealth appointments are difficult to arrange. Affordability of specialised mental health care remains an issue for many. Community mental health teams are so stretched they can only attend to the most severe and urgent situations.
Most of us know that there is a wide range of effective, reliable, evidence-based digital resources and treatment programs available free of charge to all Australians, but how can busy clinicians make the best use of them?
In this interactive presentation we will share our ideas about how we can effectively integrate digital resources and treatment programs into clinical practice. Your contribution will be welcomed and discussion of ways to overcome the barriers will be encouraged.