The Tasmanian Liberal Government continues to improve mental health outcomes for Tasmanians as we progress our mental health reform agenda and deliver an innovative and first of its kind mental health centre.
The Peacock Centre redevelopment sadly had a significant setback due to a deliberately lit fire on Christmas Eve last year but is now on track for completion and handover in early 2023.
Upon its opening in early 2023, the Centre will host four services that are all new to Tasmania, providing contemporary, recovery focused and compassionate care - helping people to get the right support, at the right time.
The Peacock Centre will house a 12-bed short stay unit providing specialist assessment and treatment in a homelike environment for people who do not require admission to hospital. This will increase the overall capacity of mental health services, delivering intensive, community-based mental health care.
In addition, the Centre will include:
Each component will work together with a shared philosophy based on the individual needs of consumers and their families and friends, valuing the perspective of those with lived experience, reorienting mental health services towards the community and providing respectful and responsive care with a recovery focus.
The Peacock Centre represents a significant injection of staff to the mental health workforce, with recruitment underway for more than 45 new multidisciplinary positions including peer workers with lived experience, nursing, allied health and medical staff.
The peer workforce is central to these new services and is part of what makes them unique.
The redevelopment of the Peacock Centre forms part of a $20.7 million investment from our Government which includes plans to open a second mental health centre at St John’s Park in 2024 providing another Safe Haven, 15 short stay beds, and a Mental Health Integration Hub, co-located with the Statewide Tasmanian Eating Disorder Service.
In recognition of the Peacock Centre project, construction contractors Hansen Yuncken have commenced a grassroots initiative to “Place a Hand for Mental Health” on the lining of the building.
The initiative places permanent handprints on the lining of the external face of the building, to be left as a positive legacy of support for mental health awareness within the project team and all subcontractors on site, and within the building fabric itself.
It gives me great heart to see organisations in our community taking steps to empower their staff to support each other, building confidence to talk about mental health and breaking down stigma.
I thank the project team, builders and contractors who are working tirelessly to bring this project to fruition.
The Peacock Centre has enormous community goodwill and I look forward to Tasmanians benefitting from its services, as we continue our work to ensure Tasmanians can get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
More Media Releases from Jeremy Rockliff
More Media Releases from the Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing