Expanding mental health crisis support for children and adolescents

• Acute Care and Response Teams (ACRTs) for Perth and the Great Southern will provide mobile outreach and crisis support for families closer to home
• $46.6 million additional investment in infant, child and adolescent mental health crisis care
• Key pillar of Infant, Child, and Adolescent (ICA) Taskforce recommendations
• Brings total investment in ICA reforms to improve wellbeing of infants, children and adolescents to $129.4 million

The Cook Government is investing $46.6 million to bolster mental health crisis care services for children and adolescents, delivering Acute Care and Response Teams (ACRTs) across Perth and the Great Southern.

New ACRTs will be established in the Great Southern and North and South metropolitan regions, with the existing East metropolitan pilot service to be extended, through a $22.4 million investment in the 2024-25 State Budget.

ACRTs provide invaluable mobile outreach and crisis support services for children up to the age of 17 years, and are a key pillar of the Infant, Child, and Adolescent (ICA) Taskforce reforms being rolled out by the Cook Government.

They are mobile teams who provide rapid response and support to children and adolescents experiencing a mental health crisis, as well as their families and carers. They will provide greater connection between in patient units, emergency departments (ED) and community services, ensuring young people are provided care close to home.

Additionally, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service's (CAMHS) Crisis Connect service will be extended, to support children and their families to remain at home while waiting for an appointment with a CAMHS team, through a $19.5 million investment.

The immediate support that Crisis Connect provides reduces the likelihood of children re-presenting to an ED and being readmitted into in patient care due to a decline in their mental health. Since the introduction of the service in July 2020, Perth Children's Hospital ED mental health attendances have reduced by 10 per cent.

For regional patients, the WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Brief Crisis Intervention Service will be extended, with $4.7 million invested in the State Budget to continue the service to 2025-26.

The WACHS Brief Crisis Intervention service is a Telehealth service supporting children and adolescents to transition out of emergency departments.

It will offer 24-hour, seven days a week specialist ICA mental health advice for regional health professionals – and five days a week virtual post-ED follow up for children, adolescents and their families/carers who have been discharged from a regional ED following a mental health-related presentation.

The Cook Government is committed to delivering all recommendations of the ICA taskforce, which will transform services to support the mental wellbeing of infants, children and adolescents across the State.

This latest $46.6 million investment is on top of $82.8 million already committed to these important reforms.

Comments attributed to Mental Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson:

"Supporting the mental health of our kids is a priority for this Government, and the ICA Taskforce reforms are a key component of our plan to support the wellbeing of our young people.

"We are committed to the delivery of intensive community-based treatment for children in crisis, keeping more children out of hospital and offering better support for families and carers.

"All Australian states and territories have reported a significant increase in the number of children presenting to an emergency department with a mental health-related condition, but in WA we are expanding support services to keep kids out of hospital.

"We want to help children and adolescents in the communities where they live and provide early interventions to reduce the likelihood of them becoming lifelong users of the mental health system."