The building blocks to wellbeing include a roof over your head, nutritious food, an environment that is neither too hot nor too cold, and a sense of security.
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The cost-of-living crisis - which is jeopardising these basics - constitutes a public health issue. This is why the 2024-25 ACT budget needs to alleviate some of the psychic strain of our ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Significant financial stress is damaging, far beyond the stress people face from challenges like being on hold on the phone for hours, or from public speaking.
While day-to-day stressors may test us, they get easily absorbed as part of the ups and downs of daily life.
Cost-of-living stress, in contrast, is actively toxic. It permeates every aspect of our lives, gnawing at our wellbeing, eroding our resilience, and exacerbating existing health conditions.
Over a prolonged period of time and without adequate support, this kind of stress heightens risk of mental ill-health.
And, as the body is exposed to high levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, the risk of physical illness also increases.
Our immune system gets compromised. The effects of toxic stress are particularly pronounced for children, who may experience disrupted development which reverberates across the lifespan, according to Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child.
But supportive relationships and services can make a huge difference in protecting the community from the worst consequences of poverty.
The Mental Health Community Coalition, along with our members and partners across Canberra, have sought additional, much-needed funding for mental health and practical supports to help us weather the storm of the cost-of-living crisis.
ACTCOSS's 2023 ACT Cost of Living Report revealed that living costs in the ACT have reached their highest levels in 20 years. And this was before the many destabilising interest rate hikes exacerbated mortgage stress even further.
Research from Mental Health Australia has found that financial issues are having "a big impact" on the mental health of 59 per cent of Australians. The problem leads to a vicious cycle as the cost of mental health support can be prohibitive. One in five say cost is a barrier to getting the resources they need.
On the ground, mental health and social services also report some worrying trends. Care - a non-profit organisation who provides free financial counselling and other support - has seen a 30 per cent increase in demand.
Meanwhile, other services are seeing record requests for assistance related to the cost-of-living crisis.
Demand has climbed as the resources to meet demand has fallen. Community mental health services - which are low-cost or free and keep people well within their homes and among their family, friends, and neighbours - are under pressure.
Government funding has not kept pace with population growth or record inflation rates. Services are waving their arms for rescue alongside their clients.
Private donations are also shrinking, another effect of cost-of-living stress. The Fundraising Institute of Australia reported in November last year that 27 per cent of charity donors were likely or extremely likely to cut the amount they donate, while another 26 per cent were seriously considering pausing their donations altogether.
We've also heard from multiple charity members that people who used to donate are now themselves becoming recipients of charity. Often for the first time in their lives.
Mental health distress can come and go, it can spike and recede, but in general, it doesn't get better when it goes unacknowledged and untreated.
Over time, these problems tend to get worse. And so, failure to address the immense amount of distress we are seeing in the community will lead to more personally perilous and publicly expensive consequences down the line.
It costs over $1000 per day, per person to receive in-hospital mental health care, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. By comparison, for each dollar invested in community mental health, taxpayers enjoy a return on investment of three dollars because it prevents the use of emergency services and hospitalisations.
Often hospital care has the tendency to patch people up until they're no longer in an acute crisis, but they often don't leave the ward "recovered".
Meanwhile, community-based care offers holistic recovery options. Services can help people enter education, training, volunteering, and employment opportunities, and work towards long-term goals.
These supports have the added financial benefit of increasing the tax base while also preventing traumatic cycles of re-hospitalisation.
The community mental health sector has suggested many possible solutions in their budget bids, many of which are small asks that would make a big difference.
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We have asked for things like enough money to hire additional staff members to respond to demand; renewed funding for life-saving, cost-effective, evidence-based programs that we already know work; and renewed building leases so that staff and service-users alike can be secure in the knowledge that they aren't about to be evicted.
Other reasonable investments to address cost-of-living would also improve mental health.
For example, increasing the public transport services and coverage would allow people to get around the community more easily, without having to dread the cost of fuel.
Having spaces people can go to meet and mingle - like parks, play areas, and community centres - affords some free fun.
We shouldn't underestimate the protection these moments give us. When so many Canberrans are living under the cloud of cost-of-living stress, any chance to take a deep breath and find community is so valuable.
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