Ms Sarah Hume:

Ms McCaffrey is right. We have a psychology service and MQI is the service provider. There are long wait lists, unfortunately. We have worked to recruit extra psychologists to fill capacity. Recently we had a competition and we hope to have full staffing in place. We are looking for additional staff through the Estimates process this year, which we hope will enhance our ability to meet the needs of people. We are monitoring data around people who get out of prison without access to the treatment they have been identified as needing. That data is helping to drive our decision-making around treatment provision. We are looking at whole-population approaches, particularly for people, as Ms McCaffrey said, who are not engaging in help-seeking behaviour.

The use of lived experience has been really critical in advising how we should try to engage people who are not contemplating change, do not see a problem with their behaviour and do not access help. That should help to bring people in. The use of peer support is critical if one wants to build trust and engagement. Talking to a psychologist is one thing but there are so many barriers to coming forward to speak to a psychologist. It is easier for people to come forward if they see a peer who has gone through the same experience, has that lived experience and has journeyed on the same road. We have found that that gives hope. For people who have seen people come back in to do work that gives hope and they need to see a role model for themselves.