The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use has been officially launched by the Hon Tanya Plibersek, Australian Minister for Health and the Hon Mark Butler, Australian Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform.
Ms Plibersek said the launch was an acknowledgment that thousands of Australians with substance abuse problems and poor mental health had "fallen through the gaps" because health, housing and service providers were ill-equipped to tackle two-pronged disorders.
A/Prof Andrew Baillie from the Centre of Emotional Health and Psychology Department, Macquarie University is a chief investigator in a new Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) targeting co-occurring mental health and substance use – a debilitating comorbidity that affects more than 300,000 Australians every year.
The centre will receive $2.5 million in NHMRC funding over the next five years. It will be led by Prof Maree Teesson from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at the University of New South Wales in collaboration with Prof Amanda Baker (University of Newcastle), Prof Paul Haber (University of Sydney), A/Prof Andrew Baillie (Macquarie University), Dr Katherine Mills (NDARC), Dr Frances Kay-Lambkin (NDARC), Prof Helen Christensen (Black Dog Institute, UNSW), Prof Max Birchwood (University of Birmingham, UK), Prof Bonnie Spring (Northwestern University Medical School, USA), and Prof Kathleen Brady (Medical University of South Carolina, USA). The CRE brings together the largest concentration of expertise in comorbidity from around the world.
A/Prof Baillie says “Macquarie’s track record of research in understanding anxiety and alcohol comorbidity and in training scientist practitioner therapists contributes to this novel and exciting collaboration.”
Mental health and substance use disorders account for more years of life lost due to disability than any other disorder and are second only to cancer and cardiovascular disease as leading causes of disease burden. In young Australians (15 – 24 years) the top 10 causes of illness are dominated by mental health and substance use disorders. Around 35 per cent of individuals with a substance use disorder also have a mental disorder, most commonly depression or anxiety. Around 80 per cent of people in treatment for substance use disorders have experienced trauma and nearly half have active post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“The CRE funding will enable us to discover more about the problems of mental health and substance use disorders, and to translate these findings into better prevention and treatment”, says A/Prof Baillie.
The CRE is one of 17 announced by the commonwealth government yesterday, sharing 42.3 million in medical research funding.
Ms Plibersek said the launch was an acknowledgment that thousands of Australians with substance abuse problems and poor mental health had "fallen through the gaps" because health, housing and service providers were ill-equipped to tackle two-pronged disorders.
A/Prof Andrew Baillie from the Centre of Emotional Health and Psychology Department, Macquarie University is a chief investigator in a new Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) targeting co-occurring mental health and substance use – a debilitating comorbidity that affects more than 300,000 Australians every year.
The centre will receive $2.5 million in NHMRC funding over the next five years. It will be led by Prof Maree Teesson from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at the University of New South Wales in collaboration with Prof Amanda Baker (University of Newcastle), Prof Paul Haber (University of Sydney), A/Prof Andrew Baillie (Macquarie University), Dr Katherine Mills (NDARC), Dr Frances Kay-Lambkin (NDARC), Prof Helen Christensen (Black Dog Institute, UNSW), Prof Max Birchwood (University of Birmingham, UK), Prof Bonnie Spring (Northwestern University Medical School, USA), and Prof Kathleen Brady (Medical University of South Carolina, USA). The CRE brings together the largest concentration of expertise in comorbidity from around the world.
A/Prof Baillie says “Macquarie’s track record of research in understanding anxiety and alcohol comorbidity and in training scientist practitioner therapists contributes to this novel and exciting collaboration.”
Mental health and substance use disorders account for more years of life lost due to disability than any other disorder and are second only to cancer and cardiovascular disease as leading causes of disease burden. In young Australians (15 – 24 years) the top 10 causes of illness are dominated by mental health and substance use disorders. Around 35 per cent of individuals with a substance use disorder also have a mental disorder, most commonly depression or anxiety. Around 80 per cent of people in treatment for substance use disorders have experienced trauma and nearly half have active post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“The CRE funding will enable us to discover more about the problems of mental health and substance use disorders, and to translate these findings into better prevention and treatment”, says A/Prof Baillie.
The CRE is one of 17 announced by the commonwealth government yesterday, sharing 42.3 million in medical research funding.
