Oral Presentation (max 20 mins including Q&A) National Men's Health Gathering 2025

Ballarat Men’s Mental Health - establishment rationale, reach, service model adherence and university-led analysis of the model and the effectiveness of the service (129243)

Andrew McPherson 1 , Nicole Heneka 2
  1. Ballarat Health Connect Limited T/A Ballarat Mens Mental Health, Ballarat Central, VIC, Australia
  2. University of Southern Qld, Brisbane, Qld, Australia

Ballarat Mens Mental Health was established in 2021 to respond to the high levels of mental health distress and the alarmingly high suicide rates among men in Ballarat and the surrounding areas. We conducted an independent consultation process with… to determine causative or contributing factors to these problems. We found that the four main factors were:

  • Difficulty navigating a confusing mental health service system
  • Inability to pay
  • Long waiting lists for services 
  • A reluctance among men under mental health distress to seek services

Based on these results we developed a service model responsive to these four issues, by enabling timely access to appropriate mental health care and other support services, to financially support those who cannot afford to pay, and to actively engage with hard-to-reach men.  Our Mission is to provide counselling and support services to men struggling with mental health issues in Ballarat and Western Victoria. Our intent is to reduce the burden of mental health-related distress amongst men and their families and to reduce suicide rates.

Our service operates virtually and has grown steadily since 2021/22 to the point where we have 20 to 30 active clients at any one time.

Our service is constantly adapting and improving and involves:

  • A university-led mixed-methods evaluation of our current service model comprising stakeholder interviews, identification of barriers and facilitators to model sustainability, growth and scalability, and mapping of evaluation recommendations against our strategic priorities.
  • The development of internal infrastructure, resources and tools to respond to evaluation recommendations; and
  • Utilisation of the evidence-based service model as a template to pilot our model in another rural/regional area (yet to be identified).

Preliminary results from the mixed methods evaluation will be available by the time of the conference, including stakeholder interview findings and key barriers and facilitators to service sustainability and growth.