Psychs on Bikes to bring mental health service to men

A senior psychiatrist who launched a major initiative to raise awareness of male mental health issues across regional Australia says many men still do not feel comfortable seeking help.

Psychs on Bikes roared into Kalgoorlie-Boulder on the weekend, led by psychiatrist and founder Joe Dunn.

Dr Dunn conceived the idea in a Kalgoorlie pub in 2011 and is in the midst of his third Perth-to-Sydney trip with a group of leather-jacketed, motorcycle-revving mental health professionals in tow.

They will make contact with rural communities along the 4000km journey across the Nullarbor to offer free mental and physical health checks to men.

The Sydney-based psychiatrist said it was imperative to bring mental health services to men because they were less likely than women to seek them out themselves.

“What we’ve learned is we have to go to men, we can’t actually invite them to go and see us because they won’t get off their bums to come and see us,” Dr Dunn said.

Funded by Ramsay Healthcare, Psychs on Bikes targets communities which request help or have suffered high rates of suicide, and Dr Dunn said this year’s trip would bring much needed help to regional communities.

He said mental health services and, in particular, psychiatrists were in short supply compared with Australia’s capital cities, a problem made worse by stigma around mental health problems in regional areas.

“Mental health services are stretched,” Dr Dunn said. “

Certainly if you compare them with downtown Sydney where I have my practice there’s psychiatrists tripping over themselves there.

“But what you realise is how complex and multifactorial the rural mental health issues are.

“It’s not just the services that are available, it’s the stigma, the blokiness, (although) all of those things are improving.”