This was a joint activity between the Emergency Services Foundation (ESF) and Responder Assist: Centre of Excellence in Emergency Worker Mental Health (established by Phoenix Australia), in collaboration with the WorkWell ESF Learning Network.
The aim was to create a diagrammatic map of the scope of the mental health programs and services available to Emergency Service workers (paid, volunteers, ex-serving) and their families across Victoria.
The map provides a high-level snapshot of the range of programs and services available, across the domains of prevention, early identification and intervention, treatment, return to work and transition. It also considers key state or federal level initiatives or reports which may impact the sector.
The map provides leaders in mental health service delivery in emergency service agencies in Victoria the opportunity to identity strengths, gaps or duplications in their own agencies and the sector more broadly. Although there are many services and programs offered, there is considerable variation in the availability of resources and services for mental health and wellbeing across the agencies. Areas of unmet need where collaboration or new initiatives could occur at agency, cross-agency, and state levels were also explored.
