Mental Health Workers?

This article raises the plight of the Mentally Ill. Many people perceive the DSP changes as targeted at people with physical disabilities. Frankly, these changes are likely to have more effect on DSP applicants with a mental illness. A friend of mine with Schizophrenia approached me this morning terrified she would be forced back into the workforce. She is far more heroic than Kylie, caring for an elderly mother, and struggling with a 30 year old son who is dependent on her mother! People with mental illness face even bigger barriers in the workplace. How does someone with schizophrenia or severe depression explain the gaps in their employment history? Employers are disabled by prejudice and ill-founded fear.

This article from Mental Health Workers? says: "One in five Australians will experience or be affected by some form of mental illness in their lifetime…for more than one million Australians that illness will be schizophrenia…

But despite a severe labour shortage…which will only get worse with an aging population…out of the 700-thousand people on a disability pension, 90% of them are not in any form of full-time work…

My comment

If a person is "disabled" then they are likely to be incapable of full-time work.

This figure compares miserably with other developed countries…where an average of 70% of people on disability pensions are in the workforce…

So why has Australia failed to capitalise on this untapped workforce?

Rob Ramjan is the Executive Officer of the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW. He says despite a widespread negative stigma against people with a mental illness, the government themselves isn't providing adequate avenues for these people to find work.

'New programs need to be developed that are sensitive to the needs of people with mental illness. There are only two specialist job providers in Australia. Clubhouse is a special job service for people with mental illnesses and there are 10 of those in Australia, compared with 200 in the United States.'"

My comment

This is exactly the problem, and I see little in the Howard Government's policy to significantly improve this. The funding allocations foreshadowed are a drop in the ocean.