Media Release

Mid West Area Mental Health Service moves to Harvester Clinic in Sunshine

8 March 2006  
 
Sunshine's Mid West Area Mental Health Service moved to new premises in the Harvester Building today.

The Harvester Clinic is the new base of the Mid West Area Mental Health Service (AMHS) and is located just 500 metres from the previous site. The adult mental health service is now located in a renovated, heritage-listed building at 4A Devonshire Road, Sunshine.

For over eight years, the Mid West AMHS has been based at 18 Withers Street in Sunshine. It has outgrown the site as demands have grown along with the population of the western urban fringe.

The new site is more spacious, has more interview rooms and a public car park is located nearby. The convenient location is also closer to the train station and shopping area and a caf� and courtyard is located within the building complex.

Manager of the Mid West AMHS, Gary Monkley, believes the new site benefits clients and staff alike.

"The spacious building is much more comfortable for clinicians and clients. With more interview rooms, we can see more people and families, which is very important as demand for our services grow. Additional conference and staff training rooms give us the opportunity to provide more onsite staff training and development. They will also be utilised for a range of community activities to benefit consumers and carers," Mr Monkley said.

All services at Withers Street have moved to the Harvester Clinic. These are: Triage, Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team, Mobile Support Team and Continuing Care Team. In addition, the Primary Mental Health Team that works with GPs and other primary care providers, have moved to Harvester Clinic from Sunshine Hospital.

The building also has offices for private psychiatrists, psychologists and other health professionals called Harvester Private Consulting, located on the first floor. This service will operate Tuesday-Thursday from 4 April 2006 and can be contacted on 9288 7130. On Mondays and Fridays, calls can be made to 9355 9820 to arrange appointments.

The new telephone number for people wanting appointments at the new Mid West AMHS Harvester Clinic is 9288 7000. In an emergency, contact Triage on 1300 859 764.

Media inquiries: Irene Salkunas, Corporate Affairs, NorthWestern Mental Health, Melbourne Health, 0419 339 084.