Mental Health Community of Practice

The diagnosis of borderline personality disorder may overlap with the diagnosis of bipolar disorder especially in the early stages of a bipolar illness where the cyclical pattern of mood change is not yet clear. Differentiation between the two is important to get the correct treatment.

Learning Outcomes:

• Differentiate the diagnostic criteria between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder

• Recognise the overlap between the conditions and when BPD diagnosis becomes a bipolar disorder

• Know the broad treatment approaches to both conditions especially when there is an overlap

This education event is being hosted at Crowne Plaza, Terrigal.

Click here to learn more and to register to attend.

SafeSide Prevention is delivering workforce training to Primary Care and Allied Health practices and professionals across Hunter, New England, and Central Coast in a hopeful, recovery-oriented approach to preventing suicide.

The opportunity is to join other primary care or allied health professionals in a three-hour, guided InPlace workshop, taking the self-paced and team sessions out of the equation. This is not an information session, but a guided workshop, with the aim to upskill individual primary care providers.

Click here to register for the event.

For questions regarding bookings, please email education@thephn.com.au

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre elevates the voices of First Nations people and shares their stories to co-design, inform, and deliver culturally safe mental health and suicide prevention initiatives.

The Black Dog Institute has created social and emotional wellbeing resources for First Nations people.

Click here to access these resources.

The General Practice Mental Health Standards Collaboration provides RTF templates and guides on how to complete GP Mental Health Treatment Plants.

Click here to access the templates and learn more.

The Peregrine Portal has been created as part of the joint partnership between The Peregrine Centre and NSW Health, in conjunction with the Rural Mental Health Partnership Grant.

Within the portal, The Peregrine Centre has curated a collection of learning materials across areas important to mental health practice.

Access to this portal is free for anyone who works in the mental health field. Resources will be continually updated, with the content being informed through feedback from practitioners on the ground across New South Wales.

Click here to Sign Up and access the free resources

SafeSide Prevention is delivering workforce training to Primary Care and Allied Health practices and professionals across Hunter, New England, and Central Coast in a hopeful, recovery-oriented approach to preventing suicide.

Completing the workshop will give you a framework for responding to suicide concerns within the time and resource constraints of the primary care setting.

Whether it is your whole practice workforce, or just a single team member, the workshop opportunity is to get you involved in SafeSide and have access to a subscription that provides year-round access to video-based training and interaction with experts and colleagues around the world.

For more information and to register visit; SafeSide - Suicide Prevention Workforce Training - Primary Health Network

The Safe Haven initiative provides a calm, culturally sensitive and non-clinical alternative to hospital emergency departments, for people experiencing distress or suicidal thoughts. Safe Havens are staffed by peer-support workers and other mental health professionals.

Safe Havens aim to:

• provide immediate, personalised, and compassionate care
• connect people to support services to address the underlying factors in their distress
• reduce pressure on hospital emergency departments
• reduce self-harm, suicide attempts and deaths by suicide.

There are three Safe Havens in the Hunter New England Central Coast PHN catchment:

Newcastle Safe Haven - 22 Stewart Avenue, Hamilton East NSW 2303

Open 4pm-9pm Friday to Sunday

Gosford Safe Haven - 89 Holden Street, Gosford NSW 2505 (Currently telehealth only)

Open 12:30pm-4pm Tuesday and Thursday

Tamworth Safe Haven - 214 Bridge St, West Tamworth NSW 2340

Open 4pm-9pm Friday to Sunday

To learn more about the Safe Haven initiative, please click here.

The PHN is pleased to promote Rural Health Connect. Rural Health Connect is an online platform that links people to psychologists over video calls and phone calls. Rural Australians deal with drought, bushfire, floods and isolation on top of all of life’s other pressures yet access psychologists at less than a fifth of the rate of people in cities. The lack of professionals in rural areas, long drives to appointments, lack of privacy in small towns and stigma are all deterrents to seeking help. We want everyone, regardless of where they live or their life circumstances, to be able to access the psychologist that is right for them. And to be able to conduct their sessions without disrupting their daily lives.

Rural Health Connect has:

- more than 120 psychologists registered

- a broad range of clinical expertise and varying interest areas, including many that are difficult to find

- bulk billing and reduced fee concessions available for anyone who needs them

- no current wait lists

To find out more and how to refer, please visit the Rural Health Connect website.

Please note this is not available for people living in the Newcastle LGA.

The PHN is pleased to provide access to its Member Assistance Program (MAP) for employees of General Practices and Allied Health Practices working and residing in the Hunter, New England and Central Coast regions.

Employees can access three (3) free, voluntary, confidential counselling sessions. Telehealth sessions are available.

The program is able to assist when personal, family or work related concerns are impacting on the health or quality of life. It can also provide guidance if it is needed on professional or personal goals.

To ensure personalised service, contact the dedicated MAP number of 1800 931 711 and advise them what practice/business you belong to and that you are accessing the HNECC PHN account.

Confidentiality is assured and your name and practice will not be disclosed to the PHN or your General Practice/Business. More information on the program is available by downloading the MAP brochure.

The PHN has recently commissioned new Mental Health Services for young people in our region.

Bereavement Services for Children

National Centre for Childhood Grief (NCCG)

Provide free telehealth counselling services for Children under 18 across the HNECC region who are experiencing bereavement or grief/loss.

Primary Mental Health Services for Children

HNECC PHN have funded a pilot program providing mental health supports for children under 12 years of age. Children are eligible for a maximum of 12 free sessions in a calendar year with a trained and skilled Psychologist or Mental Health Practitioner.

The program is primarily aimed at providing access to those children who may otherwise not be able to access support due to financial hardship.

Little Sparks (Beam Health)

Provide face to face and telehealth services across Northern Central Coast (previous Wyong LGA), Greater Newcastle (inc. Lake Macquarie & Port Stephens) Lower Hunter Valley and Upper Hunter Valley. Please contact

Wellbeing4Kids (Uniting)

Provide face to face and telehealth services across the Central Coast (previous Gosford LGA), Mid Coast, Mehi, Peel, Tablelands.

For more information please contact your Primary Care Improvement Officer.