Mental health services in Southern NSW

A calm, culturally-sensitive and non-clinical setting staffed by trained peer workers and mental health professionals to support people experiencing mental health distress.

Bega Safe Haven provides:

• A warm, welcoming, and safe space
• An alternative to the emergency department for people in distress
• Access to peer workers with lived experience of suicidal crisis who understand.
• An inclusive place, open to everyone including all ages. If under 16, please attend with parent or guardian.
  
  Free, no Medicare card or appointment is required.

When are we open?

Safe Haven is open 7 days per week, 12pm midday to 7pm. Walk-ins welcome.

If you require mental health support outside these hours, please contact the Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 or, if you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 000 or attend the emergency department at South East Regional Hospital.

Where are we located?

Bega Safe Haven is located at:
17 Bega Street, Bega, NSW, 2550
Phone: 02 6491 9214

Related Information:

More information about Safe Havens

Southern NSW LHD offers community mental health services across our District.

We can support you by providing information, support and treatment for you or someone in your family who is affected by mental health issues. 

You can always visit one of our mental health centres during business hours. Our centres are open from Monday to Friday, between 8:30am to 5pm.   

Our specialist mental health care services provide counselling, therapy and other treatments, and cover:

• adult mental health 
• Aboriginal mental health 
• mental health for older people
• child and adolescent mental health
• perinatal mental health (for pregnant women and mothers of children aged under 2 years). 

We also work closely with the other services that are supporting you, including your GP, other health providers, community organisations, and other services like schools.

For more information or to make an appointment, call 1800 011 511 (free 24/7).  

In an emergency or for urgent help always call 000 (triple zero) or go to your nearest Emergency Department.

Related Information:

• Community Mental Health Brochure (PDF 178.28KB)

Share the Care is a School-Link partnership with Southern NSW Local Health District and the NSW Department of Education. Share the Care helps school students experiencing mental ill-health to connect with support services and care. 

The Share the Care program shares the care of the young person between schools and mental health care services and supports students to and from mental health care, including returning to school.

Share the Care - Supporting school students to and from mental health care

The Share the Care resources are provided to principals, teachers and support staff in schools providing guidance, helping them to identify if a student is in need of urgent or non-urgent care, and outlines the correct pathways to follow to get the student the support they need.

The resource demystifies the process for accessing mental health care including what will happen in the emergency department and how the young person will be cared for by doctors, nurses and mental health clinicians.

For students who have received care and are returning to school, the Share the Care resource identifies the steps to best support the student and provide continuing care for their ongoing wellbeing. The resource also provide important links with community organisations for care and support in the community for the student and their family and carers.
 

Related Information:

• Share the Care resource for schools (PDF 3.09MB)

People experiencing mental health issues can sometimes need extra support and care. This can often mean spending some time in hospital, getting some rest and additional care and treatment - and then returning home. 

If this happens to you or someone in your family, we will help you to get this support.

At other times, more intensive support is needed. If this is the case, we will work with you and your family to arrange admission to one of our specialist mental health inpatient units.

Our specialist mental health inpatient units are located in Bega and Goulburn.  

• The Chisholm Ross Centre is located at Goulburn
• The Bega Mental Health Inpatient Unit is located at South East Regional Hospital.

We also have the David Morgan Centre, Kenmore and the Ron Hemmings Centre, Kenmore at Goulburn providing support for:

• people living with dementia
• older people living with mental illnesses
• adults requiring rehabilitation support
• people who live with an enduring mental illness.

How will a short stay in hospital or our specialist unit help? 

Emergency departments, GPs or doctors, and community mental health teams will contact us directly if you need admission to one of our units. 

Our specialist units are designed to provide you (or your family member) with safe and appropriate care. Our specialist unit team includes:

• doctors: consultant psychiatrists and registrars
• nurses
• social workers, occupational therapists and psychologists
• pharmacists
• consumer advocates and peer workers
• family and carer support workers.

Related information: 

• Mental Health Inpatient Brochure (PDF 534.66KB)

Disaster recovery clinicians in Southern NSW LHD are a part of our mental health service. They provide response and recovery support to our community.

Community members can access services directly or can be referred to us by other agencies.

Our locations are:

• Batemans Bay
• Bega
• Bombala
• Braidwood
• Cooma
• Crookwell
• Delegate
• Eden
• Goulburn
• Jindabyne
• Moruya
• Narooma
• Pambula
• Queanbeyan
• Yass.

To learn more about the referral process, refer to the 

File

For any mental health enquiries and to make an appointment call 1800 011 511 (free call). This number operates 24 hours 7 days a week.

In an EMERGENCY always call 000 (triple zero) or go to your nearest hospital's Emergency Department.

For further listings of support services in the region refer to the Southern NSW Bushfire Recovery Resource (PDF 4.1MB)

Our consumer advocates and peer workers have a ‘lived experience’ of mental illness. They work in both community and hospital mental health settings.  

The contact details for consumer advocates and peer workers are displayed and available in each of our mental health service centres. For more information, you can approach the reception or ask any of our mental health team.

How will consumer advocates and peer workers help you?

Our advocates and peer works can:

• offer you understanding and support
• support you on your recovery journey 
• help you to get the information you need 
• help you if you are finding it hard to access the right services
• make sure our service listens, understands and respond to you
• support you to understand your rights and responsibilities, and the responsibilities of our service.

Supporting someone who is experiencing mental health issues can be a challenging time for everyone.

Southern NSW LHD is committed to supporting the families and carers of people who are experiencing mental health difficulties. 

Our staff are here to help you and your family and are committed to working with families and carers. 

We also have access to specialist family and carer services that can provide extra support. 

How will the family and carer services help you?

The family and carer services will:

• work closely with you and your family to give you the information and support you need
• ensure that decisions about treatment and care are made with you and your family or support person
• connect with you, and ask how we can support you
• tell you how you have helped to change our services
• ask for your feedback about how we can improve our services
• tell you how you have helped to change our services.

For more information, refer to the mental health family and carer guide (PDF 3.65MB).

For help navigating the NSW Mental Health System click here to access 10 new resources developed by Mental Health Carers NSW.

Related information:

• Understanding the NSW Mental Health Act 2007 (PDF 482.96KB)
• SNSWLHD Community Mental Health Services (PDF 178.28KB)
• SNSWLHD Access Service - Mental Health Line (PDF 170.24KB)
• SNSWLHD Mental Health Inpatient Units brochure (PDF 534.66KB)

RAMHP helps to identify people in regional, rural and remote NSW experiencing mental health concerns and link them to the help they need. 

We provide personal tailored advice, innovative projects, local and national partnerships, mental health information, workshops and short courses.

We ensure that you know how, when and where to find help when you need it.

For more information about RAMHP, you can visit the RAMPH website.

How will RAMHP help you?

• We help people experiencing mental health concerns by providing advice on appropriate services and resources in your local area.
• We educate workplaces and community members on how to recognise someone experiencing a mental health concern and how to provide support.
• We work with communities and individuals to inform and raise awareness about staying mentally healthy and how to find help when you need it.
• We respond in times of natural disasters and severe adversity, linking community members to local services and support.
• We also have partnerships with services and organisations in rural NSW. These partnerships increase our reach to communities and build relationships between local service providers.