A primary mental health-care model for rural Australia: outcomes for doctors and the community

ABSTRACT: To address the high rate of depression and suicide in rural Australia requires a multifaceted approach to educate the community, improve the skills of health workers and provide user-friendly patient counselling. The present paper describes a model that covers each of these aspects and details the outcomes with respect to the doctors and the community. Improved awareness in the community of mental illness and the availability of treatment, decreasing the stigma of such a diagnosis, and increasing the skills and reducing the isolation of doctors in rural areas who treat mental illness were all positive benefits from this cost-effective way of providing mental health care in a primary setting. The adoption of this model in all primary care settings is advocated.