The Border community is "passionate" about ensuring local mental health services meet the needs of residents, the chief of the National Mental Health Commission has said after a public forum at Albury.
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Providing co-ordinated services that can be more easily accessed by people experiencing mental ill-health was at the top of the list of concerns raised at Thursday night's "community conversation" led by the commission's CEO Christine Morgan.
About 60 people attended the Connections2022 event, which aims to gather insights into people's everyday experiences of the mental health and suicide prevention systems.
Albury-Wodonga is one of 37 communities being canvassed over the next three months to provide the NMHC with "critical insights" as it develops a National Outcomes Framework for governments.
Ms Morgan said it was clear from discussions at the public meeting that the challenges of living in a border community added "an additional layer of complexity" to the delivery of mental health services.
"People here feel deeply about this issue," she said.
"The focus was very much on how do we ensure services meet the needs of people here.
"That, for example, if a young person is in a space where they need help then they can access it quickly and easily - and not be put on a long waiting list.
"It was a conversation people were really leaning into - I got the sense this matters."
Ms Morgan, who also spent a full day on Thursday in stakeholder meetings with community leaders and health and suicide prevention services, said it was also clear COVID-19 continued to be a factor in people's wellbeing.
"One person (who is in business) commented that their family had experienced the reality of significant anxiety as a result of COVID-19 and ongoing economic insecurity," she said.
"I think the impact of COVID-19 has been slammed home - the fact that we are all vulnerable when it comes to the potential for our mental health to be affected."
It was also apparent to Ms Morgan that local communities "will not be silent or let stigma or shame" cloud action on mental health and suicide prevention.
"There was a strong feeling of people power and the critical need to help different communities uncover their own capacity," she said.
- An interactive portal (making-connections.com.au) is available for people to still share their experiences and have direct contact with the Commission.
