This has not been the start to 2022 that anyone wanted.
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We're not officially in lockdown, but many of us with vulnerable loved ones or anxieties for our own health and wellbeing are locking ourselves down to keep COVID-19 at bay.
Many of us have already got sick with COVID or know someone who has. Many of us are missing work as a result or feeling anxious about having to go to work.
And so we have entered the third year of this pandemic, where the mental health toll remains with us and is taking us down new roads.
That includes the jarring cognitive leap we are feeling particularly in Victoria, having gone from celebrating doughnut days as we pursued COVID Zero to now 'living with COVID'.
Living with uncertainty will again be a theme for many of us this year.
And the uncertain trajectory for the Omicron wave will mix with some wider political instability, with a federal election upon us soon and the state election due in November.
What does this mean for mental health policy and funding? How do policy makers and governments make decisions about mental health policy and investment when we're facing so much uncertainty?
Certainly, the need is huge.
Last year, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported an increase in psychological distress across Australia, likely associated with the social, economic, and public health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sudden loss of employment and social interaction, the extreme polarisation of public discourse, the added stressors of moving to remote work or schooling, and the impacts of sudden, localised 'lockdowns' to prevent further outbreaks have affected the mental health of many Australians.
AIHW said that in just the four weeks to September 19, 2021, still before the Victorian and NSW lockdowns ended, Lifeline saw several historical record high daily call volumes, and 96,273 calls were offered in total, up 14 per cent on 2020 and a massive 33 per cent on 2019.
Kids Helpline received 32,572 answerable contact attempts, up 5 percent and 17 per cent from the same periods in 2020 and 2019 respectively.
With this as our baseline, how do we steel ourselves for 2022? And what do we as a country, as a society, to support mental health through such a year?
First, we have to start with some basics, providing the support where it's needed, to the people that need it most.
In the lead up to the federal election, we are urging all parties - Coalition, Labor, Greens and a strong list of independents - to articulate a bold vision for a well funded, compassionate, innovative mental health system that is properly resourced and evidence-based. For a mental health system that fully embraces the expertise that comes from lived and living experience of mental illness and recovery, and the experiences of families, carers and supporters.
Mental Health Victoria has spent the last few months talking to our members and the wider sector about what we need from the federal government, while we are still dealing with the turmoil of COVID-19.
We have welcomed its visionary commitment to community-based care through Head to Health centres but they need to fast track the rollout so there is a centre in every federal electorate by mid-decade.
We are also urging that temporary COVID-19 MBS telehealth provisions be made permanent - critically important for people in rural and regional areas to be able to access services.
Closely related, our other priorities include equal access to digital health services to reduce the systemic disadvantage experienced by so many regional communities.
And, as we have said so many times, we are urging growth of the rural and regional mental health workforce.
The 2021/22 federal budget invested a record $2.3 billion in mental health. This was a momentous commitment, but more can, should, and must be done. The Victorian government, whose record allocation dwarfed the federal spend, has set the national bar high. Canberra and other jurisdictions need to step up to respond to the escalating mental health and social and emotional wellbeing crisis across Australia.
The upcoming federal budget, to be delivered ahead of the election, will be a test of political commitment.
Living with uncertainty may be a part of our new normal, part of what living with COVID is all about.
What is certain, though, is that we'll need a fair, innovative, ambitious vision from our leaders about how to support the mental health of our society.