For many people, 2020 will be a year with a long tail

For many of us, the worst of 2020 is now behind us.

We can look to meeting up once more with loved ones over Christmas and to taking a break over summer from work.

But of course, for many others, 2020 will have a long tail - financial, health, and social. It will both have caused and exacerbated mental and physical health issues.

Some of these were outlined on ABC radio this week by Bronwyn Pike, a former Victorian government minister who is the chief executive of Uniting Vic.Tas, one of Mental Health Victoria's member organisations.

She sounded an important warning to governments, health and social sectors and to all of us that there is a continuing and possibly rising toll in our community.

Ms Pike reported that in November, requests to her organisation for emergency relief (material aid, financial support, links to other support services) were triple the number received for May, and that requests for food parcels then were double the figures for May.

The organisation was seeing significant increases in reports of family violence and waiting lists for alcohol and other drug withdrawal services, while calls per week to Lifeline from Victoria were up about 25 per cent.

This is deeply worrying.

So too is a recent landmark report about the health and wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people that I have been reading this week.

Private Lives 3, by La Trobe University's Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, has surveyed LGBTIQ people across the country, in our inner cities, suburban areas, and in rural and regional areas.

Even for those who work in mental health, the reported 2020 findings are shocking.

The report says that LGBTIQ people who live outside urban areas may face additional challenges.

They might struggle more to access inclusive and affirmative health and support services and face higher levels of stigma and discrimination in doing so.

Depending on where they live, it might also be hard for them to establish community networks and support that involve other LGBTIQ people, which of course has further implications for health and wellbeing.

The report leaves no doubt of the need for safe and accessible mainstream services as well as investment into LGBTIQ community-controlled services across the state.

So it will be high in our minds at Mental Health Victoria early next year, as we prepare for the release of the long-awaited final report of the Royal Commission into Victoria's mental health system in February and then the Victorian government's response to the report in the May budget.

Before then though, as many of us wind down from work in this coming week, we are also aware that the days ahead don't just mark the end of this tough year, and the beginning of the festive season.

They also mark the anniversary of last summer's bushfires, which caused such devastating and trauma in many regional Victorian communities.

As the weather warms, and those memories return, anxiety levels will again grow.

We can only hope to be spared a summer like last year's, and to be able to plan for a post-COVID world in 2021.

In the meantime, there are many places to access help throughout the holiday season. Reach out if you need them.

Angus Clelland is chief executive of Mental Health Victoria.