Mental Health Week at The Alfred

Jan Macintire, Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team

When a mental health crisis occurs in the community and people are at their most vulnerable – day or night - The Alfred’s Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team (CATT) is there to help.

The team operates 24/7 – making community visits and taking calls from individuals, families or others who are concerned about their own or another’s mental health.

Senior psychiatric nurse Jan Macintire has been with The Alfred CATT for a decade and says in recent years, the job profile has changed. She has seen a worrying number of people with mental health issues brought on by drug use – particularly ice but also marijuana.

“It’s not just young people and people from certain socio-economic groups – this is affecting people from the whole spectrum of society,” Jan said.

“These drugs can lead to long-term mental illness and that’s what people don’t realise. We do have a lot of success referring people on to services that can help them but I think the first step is that people have to want to change themselves.”

While the job can be incredibly challenging, CATT workers support each other through it.

“Our team is fantastic and in a crisis, we all band together. That’s what gets us through.”

Find out more about the Emergency Psychiatry at The Alfred.

The Alfred's suicide prevention plan

Every day, roughly three people arrive at The Alfred after trying to take their own life.

In the decade after that first attempt, half of those people will go on to commit suicide.

This devastating statistic is one that Alfred Health will work to combat under the Victorian Government’s 10-year Mental Health Plan, which will come into effect from January next year.

Alfred is one of only six Victorian sites that will take part in the study, which includes Peninsula Health, St Vincent’s Hospital, Barwon Health, Maroondah Hospital and Wangaratta Hospital.

The plan, which aims to reduce suicide in Victoria by 50 per cent, will target the group of people who are discharged directly from ED or a medical ward following a suicide attempt - back into the community.

There are two components to the plan, the first is a place-based approach that will link these people - while they are still in hospital - with long-term care and intervention so they can easily access the mental health care they need, when they need it. The second is a population-based approach, which will use clinical and psycho-social support in the community.

Director of Alfred Psychiatry, Simon Stafrace, said The Alfred will work with the other five sites to develop the best approach to help the greatest number of people.

“We’ll be teaching people things like the skills they need to strengthen their capacity to solve problems in life,” A/Prof Stafrace said.

“A lot of the practices we’ll be using in this plan are ones we already use, but this is a co-ordinated approach across the state to bring down Victoria’s tragic suicide rate.”

Find out more about the Victorian Suicide Prevention Framework 2016-25.

Catherine Bennett - Consumer Consultant in Psychiatry

In 2004, Catherine Bennett was told she would never recover from the crippling mental illness that saw her hospitalised for months at a time.

She was battling Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), brought on by a childhood of traumatic abuse. But Catherine refused to give in.

Now, Catherine has not only turned her own life around, she is working as a consumer consultant within Alfred Psychiatry to help make the system better for people living with mental illness.

“I found myself in the psychiatric ward for three months, in high dependency, and I was in and out for three years,” Catherine said.

“I was told that I’d never get better – that treatment wouldn’t work for me. That was the last thing I needed to hear – it was absolute hell. I was so low that I didn’t want to live. I had no support and I couldn’t imagine going on like that.

“I ended up taking part in a research trial which used dialectical behaviour therapy (a type of cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy) and finally, I found something that worked. After two years I was in clinical remission from PTSD and after another five years, I no longer had symptoms of BPD.

“It shocks me sometimes to think just how bad things were.”

Her incredible determination saw Catherine walk from Newcastle – her former home - to Melbourne, to raise awareness for mental health and mental illness.

Once she reached Melbourne, Catherine knew she had found her home and has never looked back.

Working within psychiatric care at The Alfred means Catherine is able to make a real difference to people who often feel misunderstood and neglected. Catherine helps to give vulnerable people a voice and an opportunity to share their lived experience to bring about service improvement.

She meets with consumers in the Consumer Reference Group to chat about their experiences and implements real changes to make their stay easier.

“One of the changes we made recently was name badges,” Catherine said.

“It’s such a simple thing but consumers were finding it difficult to identify who was nurse, who was a visitor, who was an OT, and it was quite confronting for them. Now, with staff wearing name badges, consumers can easily recognise who their nurse is and feel more comfortable talking with them.”

For other people struggling with mental illness, Catherine has this advice:

“Even though life can be hard and painful, you are worth so much more than you realise. There are times when it seems like the only answer is to give up but that’s not the answer; those are the times when it takes courage to fight for yourself, courage to live through it and wait it out. I know it doesn’t feel like it will pass but it always does and things do get easier – be kind to yourself and when you need help, ask for it.”

Psychiatry social work team

Being admitted into psychiatric care can be a very daunting and traumatic experience for patients and their families. Our dedicated team of inpatient and community social workers makes sure patients and carers are supported in the process, and connected to all the services available to help them in hospital, and once they get home.

Their work can be challenging at times, but seeing people’s strength and resilience as they work towards recovery - despite the challenges of mental illness – provides plenty of reward.

Social work in psychiatry manager, Sharon Sutherland, completed her first ever student placement at The Alfred and was inspired by the incredible work the team does.

“It’s humbling to see people reclaim their lives despite mental illness, especially when we know mental illness knows no boundaries, it happens everywhere and can happen to people in all types of families,” Sharon said. 

“We are committed to a recovery approach and help people work on their recovery goals. This may include helping them overcome quality of life issues, providing practical resources, and supportive counselling for individuals and families, including parenting issues.

“Social inclusion, community engagement and housing can all be compounding issues.

“We also help with managing people’s mental health needs in the most supportive way possible, managing the risks and challenges they may face including isolation and discrimination.

“Advocacy is an important part of the work to make sure people are connected to personal and community supports which are important to recovery.