Last week the Daily Liberal reported that a young male who was injured and hid from police near the Macquarie River was taken to Dubbo Base Hospital to be assessed by the mental health team.

Ms Davies said that in similar situations a clinical liaison nurse in the mental health unit at the hospital would assess the person before a psychiatrist performs their own review on the client.

Mental health patients are treated using a policy of less restrictive practice, which means if the client can be kept in the community with family and friends in their own environment then that is the preferred method of practice.

The patient will then be admitted to hospital only if they have a high level of risk which includes a high risk of harming themselves or someone else, are hearing voices or seeing things that are not there.

It also includes strong depression and not looking after themselves properly.

Otherwise, the person is able to go home and a member of the community mental health team check up on them that day or the next, where they arrange a time for another assessment.

This aims to assess the mental state of the person by looking at how they are thinking, the mood they are in, whether they are working out problems and if they are likely to hurt themselves or someone else.

Depending on what is wrong, the community mental health team can refer the person to other services such as different types of counselling, rehabilitation, or access to a community psychologist.

However when patients go home they need to have a support system which could be a carer, family member of friend.

The person should be someone who is willing to make sure the patient is okay, and should be available most of if not all the time, according to Ms Davies.

The community mental health team in Dubbo deal with “about 50” people a day, which does not include those at Dubbo Base Hospital, which have their own clients, she said.

The main target for the community mental health team is schizophrenia, bipolar, depression and anxiety.

“Everybody is susceptible to a mental illness,” Ms Davies said.

“It is the third most common reason to go to a GP and antidepressants are the third most common medicine ordered by doctors.”

morgan.downs@ruralpress.com