The Koori Mental Health Liaison Officers (KMHLO) Project is funded through Department of Humans Services (DHS) and is based at the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) and works closely with the Improving Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Patients (ICAP) project.
VACCHO expects that these two positions will assist the agency and its affiliate members as well as mainstream health systems to improve its capacity to strategically respond to issues around acute hospital care for Aboriginal people as well as mental health treatment and care.
There are currently 13 KMHLO employed in Area Mental Health Services (AMHS) across the state covering all rural health DHS regions. These positions play a vital role in developing cultural expertise in AMHS by placing an Aboriginal Health Worker in an AMHS. It is anticipated that the presence of a KMHLO will improve Aboriginal people’s confidence that the service will be culturally sensitive and also act as a link to Aboriginal Community Controlled organizations in order to assist the AMHS management to deliver culturally appropriate mental health treatment and care.
The VACCHO Mental Health Project Officer has responsibilities to work closely with Aboriginal communities and their organizations, the KMHLO positions and their employing services towards achieving better health outcomes for Aboriginal people and communities.
However, this position also has particular responsibilities arising out of the VACCHO Purro Birik project. Purro Birik aims to ensure that accessible and culturally sensitive mental health treatment and care is available for Aboriginal people. Importantly it recognizes that issues around mental health for Aboriginal people are often complex and often need to be addressed outside of formal health agency systems. Dual diagnosis will also become a key focus of this position.
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