Clinicians across South Australia have expressed their concern at a deep lack of public psychology services. They point to low pay and significant vacancy rates as causes for the crisis. Deborah McLean, a leading voice in mental health advocacy, focuses on an urgent matter. It would only fulfill about 65 percent of the demand for psychologists, leaving millions of Americans without the care they urgently need.
The mood is even worse behind the walls of SA Health. Of those 236 psychologists employed, an incredible 74 percent are part-time staff while 44 percent are employed on short-term contracts. This precarious employment situation deepens the existing failure to deliver sufficient, quality mental health care to all communities in need.
Recruitment Challenges Contribute to Service Gap
Deborah McLean, among others, has been sounding the alarm on the increasing difficulty to recruit psychologists. Financial inequities between the public and private sector complicate this undertaking.
“When you can be earning six times more in the private sector, it’s hard to stay, particularly as wages have gone backwards for us,” – Deborah McLean
She claims that these differences push would-be psychologists away from the public system. Consequently, many of these localities experience a shocking 50 percent vacancy rate. The absence of paid placements adds fuel to the fire.
“It’s more attractive for people to want to train as a psychologist if they have access to paid placements,” – Deborah McLean
According to Mr. Picton’s office, even that is up 5 percent on the front lines of mental health services. McLean vigorously refutes these numbers and stresses that there is an immediate need for resources to fill vacancies and create new positions.
“We’d like to be able to fill the vacancies that we have. We’d like to see the creation of new positions,” – Deborah McLean
Personal Experiences Reflect Larger Issues
Asma Safi is an Afghan immigrant who fled to Australia in 2011. She is honest about her own experience in trying to obtain mental health care. Only after she had a much harder time negotiating the bureaucratic maze did she find help through Multicultural Youth SA.
Asma Safi said that they really did not understand what refugees have to go through. She really humanized this feeling of not fitting in, not being able to relate to the things happening in your adopted country.
Safi’s experience highlights the walk-around, detours, and hurdles barriers route many when trying to get care for mental health conditions. After several months of calling nearly every day, she was about to get an appointment with a psychologist. She did it in only one week.
For Henna, her experience in trying to find and receive service has affected her life as a henna artist.
“I loved henna, but when I was going through this mental health issue, I was unable to enjoy these activities,” – Asma Safi
This story is part of a larger trend of people increasingly being denied timely access to care, exacerbating their problems.
Consequences of Delayed Access to Care
Experts are getting worried about the downstream impacts of delayed access to mental health services. Mr. Stewart continues to emphasize that delaying care will result in worse outcomes for those who require it most.
“If you delay someone receiving the appropriate mental health care, the problem is going to worsen,” – Mr. Stewart
He elaborates on the lasting consequences of not providing enough support systems. People might finally require more intensive and longer-term interventions.
“It’s going to be aggravated, and so by the time they do reach a mental health service, they’re going to need a lot more intensive or longer … support potentially,” – Mr. Stewart
The reality of mental health service provision in South Australia is equally as shocking. A lack of psychologists practicing in the public and private sectors does not adequately address the increase in demand for mental health care. Professionals are leaving the industry at much higher rates than their replacements can be hired. This increasing struggle limits their capacity to deliver the crucially needed mental health care.
