00:00To be able to have the official opening of the Illawarra's own Medicare Mental Health Kids Hub
00:05where children and families from naught up to 12 can get wraparound support
00:09from a multidisciplinary team, all free and backed by Medicare.
00:14It's part of our strong commitment to be able to put mental health services in the heart of communities
00:20and support much more accessible to local people and families.
00:25This is possible under the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement
00:28and our strong bilateral with New South Wales, which is meant of the 17 across the country,
00:34four are right here in New South Wales and the official opening here of the Illawarra today.
00:39And as a former mental health worker myself, I felt like I'd stepped into a multidisciplinary team meeting earlier.
00:45And I want to recognise the expertise and experience and compassion of the clinical staff here.
00:52Social workers, paediatricians, psychologists, counsellors, mental health nurses
00:56bringing that wraparound support tailored to individual families and young people
01:01to meet their social, emotional and developmental needs.
01:04And I also want to acknowledge the contribution of First Nations people and families,
01:10their deep understanding of social and emotional wellbeing, connection to kin and connection to country,
01:15which is infused through this building and is part of what we want to see
01:19in mental health services as they continue.
01:21And I want to congratulate everybody who has been part of today and the official opening.
01:27And I've heard that there's already been more than 200 families locally
01:30who've been able to access this service close to home when they need it and for free.
01:36And that's been in more than 3,000 occasions of here.
01:39and we're now declaring that you're our mental kids' hub officially.
01:44Open!
01:54You
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