New Black Dog e-hub aims to help nurses facing mental health issues

The next wave of the pandemic may be a wave of mental health disorders that will arise throughout Australia.

Preliminary data taken in the height of lockdowns showed that people are already reporting psychological distress during the pandemic. One preliminary study showed about 30 per cent of survey participants have moderate to high levels of anxiety and depression.

A Guardian survey showed that 80 per cent of respondents living with a condition believe their mental health was worse due to the impact of the coronavirus, with 28 per cent indicating that it was much worse.

The Black Dog Institute has recorded an increase of 123 per cent for visits to its website, compared to a usual week. Forty per cent of content viewed was from a designated section around anxiety over COVID-19.

These effects may well be exacerbated for the cohort of healthcare workers who have been subjected to higher work loads, and the stress of facing the virus, on top of the regular stresses of everyday life.

To help our frontline health workers, the Black Dog Institute has come up with an e-health hub offering mental health support. TEN (The Essential Network) is a multifaceted e-health hub, developed by health professionals for health professionals as part of the Australian government's COVID-19 response.

The network connects health workers to specialist, individualised mental health advice and triaged support to ensure access to the help they need when they need it the most.

Nursing Review spoke with Melissa Black, a clinical research fellow and clinical psychologist working at Black Dog, to hear more about the hub.

NursingReview · Melissa Black || Black Dog Institue

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