Increased Need for Mental Healthcare in Australia

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In today’s day and age, the mental illness within the Australian population has drawn a considerable concern among the whole society. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics(2013), Australian mental health issue has become much more prevalent than ever before. It shows that mental disorder were expected to affect more than 1% of the population. Meanwhile, Australia’s mental health system does not meet the demand(ABC News, 2014). Under this situation, fund-raising for mental health which is in accordance with the social actuality, has become an important trend. ABC News 2014, ‘Australia's mental health system not meeting demand, should focus on self-help: report’, ABC News, 11th March, viewed 27th March 2014, Australian Bureau of Statistics 2014, National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Users' Guide, 2007, catalogue no. 4326.0.30.002, ABS, viewed 27th March 2014, Economic With the continuously increasing amount of personal income, people are willing to spend more charity. As TradingEconomics(2013) shows, Australia average weekly income increased dramatically from 875.2 dollars in January 2008 to 1114.2 dollars in January 2014. Because of the improvement of standard of living, people show more generosity toward charitable giving. Based on NAB’s inaugural Charitable Giving Index(NAB, 2012), in the seven months to July 2012 charitable giving increased by 4.7% from 2011 ,meanwhile the average annual donation size per donor increased 0.7% to $292 as well compared with the previous year. Furthermore, the charitable giving index of 2013 continued growing by 2.6% compared with 2012(NAB, 2013). TradingEconomics 2013, Australia Average Weekly Wages, January 2014. Viewed 27th March 2014 NAB 2012, New Index shows Aussies' generosity, Australia, Viewed 27th March 2014, NAB 2013, NAB Charitable Giving Index: Indepth report – February 2013, Australia, Viewed 27th March 2014, Political The substantially policy attention and financial support boost the motivation of fund-raising for mental health. From 2010 to 2011, total direct expenditure to support people with mental illness is roughly 28.6 billion dollars in which Australian government funded the majority amount(Medibank and Nous Group, 2013). In order to reform the mental health system in the long term perspective, Australian governement established the National Mental Health Commission (NMHC) in January 2012(Medibank and Nous Group, 2013) Medibank and Nous Group, (2013). The Case for Mental Health Reform in Australia: A Review of Expenditure and System Design, Retrieved 7th March 2014 from http://www.medibank.com.au/Client/Documents/Pdfs/The_Case_for_Mental_Health_Reform_in_Australia.pdf. Technologic On the one hand, with the penetration of internet into people’s daily life, it provide a critical platform for charity publicity which could increase the engagement between the public and the charity.

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