Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #624 The Right One with Dr Andrew Leech
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
- 0:07Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers Now.
- 0:10Speaker 2: This month is Mental Health Awareness Months. Good it's doctor
- 0:14Speaker 2: Justin Coilson here. And one of the things that has
- 0:16Speaker 2: been coming through our emails podcasts at Happy Families dot
- 0:19Speaker 2: com dotu and is a regular question that I get
- 0:21Speaker 2: from parents who are stressed out, tired out, exhausted, burned
- 0:24Speaker 2: out and worrying about their kids or their own mental
- 0:27Speaker 2: health is.
- 0:28Speaker 3: How do I get help?
- 0:29Speaker 2: It's really hard to get into a doctor. Getting into
- 0:31Speaker 2: a psychologist is almost impossible, and even when you can
- 0:35Speaker 2: get in, the costs are enormous. How do we get
- 0:39Speaker 2: the help that we need? All this month, as part
- 0:42Speaker 2: of Mental Health Awareness Month, Kylie and I have been
- 0:44Speaker 2: talking about topics related to our kids and ourselves and
- 0:48Speaker 2: mental health. And we've had a handful of really interesting
- 0:51Speaker 2: conversations with experts who can guide this conversation.
- 0:55Speaker 3: Around mental health.
- 0:55Speaker 2: But today a discussion with a GP from WA, a
- 1:00Speaker 2: man by the name of Andrew Leach. Andrew Leach is
- 1:03Speaker 2: a GP, a general practitioner in Perth, Western Australia. He's
- 1:06Speaker 2: been a GP for ten years and his specialty focus
- 1:09Speaker 2: is consulting with families around issues of family health and
- 1:14Speaker 2: mental health. It's been working with Emerging Minds upskilling GPS
- 1:17Speaker 2: in this area and also the Royal Australian College of
- 1:20Speaker 2: General Practitioners the RACGP, and he joins me now on
- 1:24Speaker 2: the Happy Families podcast. Andrew, it's so good to talk
- 1:26Speaker 2: to you. Thanks for taking some time out of your
- 1:28Speaker 2: busy schedule to help us out with some mental health
- 1:30Speaker 2: challenges for families.
- 1:32Speaker 1: Thanks Justin, It's great to be here and be part
- 1:34Speaker 1: of this podcast series.
- 1:36Speaker 2: There's a handful of questions that I want to approach
- 1:39Speaker 2: with all once, so I'm going to try and curb
- 1:41Speaker 2: my enthusiasm and just ask them one at a time.
- 1:44Speaker 2: Let's say I'm struggling with my own mental health, or
- 1:47Speaker 2: I have a child and I'm pretty sure there's something
- 1:49Speaker 2: that's just not developmentally where it is supposed to be.
- 1:52Speaker 2: Maybe I've got some concerns about ADHD or autism or
- 1:55Speaker 2: oppositional behavior. How do I get the help that I need?
- 2:00Speaker 2: The advice consistently is go talk to your GP, and
- 2:03Speaker 2: your GP will tell you what to do. Is that
- 2:05Speaker 2: the right thing for me to be saying? And if
- 2:06Speaker 2: that's the case. What happens when somebody gets in to
- 2:08Speaker 2: see you.
- 2:09Speaker 3: It is the right thing to be saying, justin.
- 2:11Speaker 1: But it's just not as simple as that, is it,
- 2:13Speaker 1: because it is so hard to get the GP to
- 2:16Speaker 1: see you in the first place. I guess gps are
- 2:19Speaker 1: all very busy now, and the GP that you need
- 2:22Speaker 1: to listen to, so the GP that sort of has
- 2:25Speaker 1: that understanding of what you might be going through. You know,
- 2:28Speaker 1: we all have different interests in general practice, and I know,
- 2:31Speaker 1: you know, whilst I'm really passionate about this area, there'll
- 2:34Speaker 1: be other gps that are more interested in skin or
- 2:37Speaker 1: you know, women's health or men's health and might not
- 2:40Speaker 1: be as attuned into what ADHD or autism is. So
- 2:44Speaker 1: it's getting that first point of call you're finding. That
- 2:47Speaker 1: first sort of step is finding the right GP for
- 2:51Speaker 1: you and your family. I don't think gps would be
- 2:53Speaker 1: offended by you trying a couple just to get the
- 2:56Speaker 1: right one for you and your family often helps if
- 2:59Speaker 1: the GP does have children themselves as well, and that's
- 3:02Speaker 1: not that's a very generalized statement, but I know the
- 3:06Speaker 1: gps have got children often have that sort of bit
- 3:08Speaker 1: of life experience behind them where they've had those challenges
- 3:11Speaker 1: with parenting, where they've seen it and they know the
- 3:14Speaker 1: developmental milestones and they and they've to me that was
- 3:18Speaker 1: such a big education to have that.
- 3:20Speaker 3: Parenting life background.
- 3:23Speaker 1: But it's not just that. You know, some gps have
- 3:25Speaker 1: done extra training in pediatrics and they might have done
- 3:28Speaker 1: a child health diploma, and that can be a bit
- 3:30Speaker 1: of a clue that they have an interest and that
- 3:32Speaker 1: they usually put that on their website, on the clinic website.
- 3:36Speaker 1: So it is challenging, it's not easy. And often the
- 3:40Speaker 1: ones that are good at pediatrics or good at mental health.
- 3:43Speaker 3: Are the busiest ones as well. They're the ones that
- 3:45Speaker 3: are hard to get into because a lot of their.
- 3:46Speaker 1: Consults are longer and they then sort of have a
- 3:51Speaker 1: longer wait time to get in. But you know, it's
- 3:54Speaker 1: that's that's the system that we have to deal with.
- 3:57Speaker 1: What I always suggest to parents is right down your concerns.
- 4:00Speaker 1: So do a little bit of background work before you
- 4:03Speaker 1: come in. Write down what's going on for you. It's
- 4:07Speaker 1: really good for parents to list the problems send them
- 4:11Speaker 1: into the doctor before you go in, and that way
- 4:14Speaker 1: we have a bit of a heads up as to
- 4:15Speaker 1: what might be going on. The parent then has an
- 4:18Speaker 1: opportunity to outline their concerns without the child in front
- 4:22Speaker 1: of them. So there might be things they really don't
- 4:23Speaker 1: want to mention in front of the child, and we
- 4:26Speaker 1: don't want the child to feel this is all about
- 4:29Speaker 1: the problems that they're having. We want the child to
- 4:32Speaker 1: feel there might be some challenges, and I'm very open
- 4:35Speaker 1: with talking with children about some of the challenges, but
- 4:38Speaker 1: some of these issues are far more complex than what
- 4:40Speaker 1: the child needs to know.
- 4:42Speaker 3: So list the.
- 4:43Speaker 1: Problems send them in. That might prompt the GP to say, look,
- 4:46Speaker 1: you need to come in earlier. The other thing with
- 4:49Speaker 1: finding a GP is find the GP.
- 4:51Speaker 3: That likes to include the child in this process.
- 4:55Speaker 1: I'm really big on training gps to make sure the
- 4:58Speaker 1: child is included, and that means they are the center
- 5:01Speaker 1: of the console.
- 5:02Speaker 3: They are the patient.
- 5:03Speaker 1: That's the reason that the parent is in is because
- 5:06Speaker 1: of their child, the concerns about their child. So quite
- 5:08Speaker 1: often I'll spend the first ten minutes just talking to
- 5:11Speaker 1: the child. And this is obviously age dependent, depends on
- 5:13Speaker 1: how shy the child is when they come in.
- 5:15Speaker 3: It might take a lot of report building.
- 5:17Speaker 1: We often just talk about the fun stuff first, what
- 5:20Speaker 1: they like, their interests, their school friends, you know, what
- 5:23Speaker 1: they play outside school. But it takes that extra effort
- 5:27Speaker 1: for us, but it is worthwhile doing, is including the child,
- 5:31Speaker 1: because then when you've opened up that rapport, you can
- 5:35Speaker 1: delve into some of the deeper, more useful information. Quite
- 5:39Speaker 1: often when we're just talking about those general things as well,
- 5:42Speaker 1: like friendships, like school, we hear clues about what might
- 5:46Speaker 1: be going on that are difficult for the child. You know,
- 5:48Speaker 1: I don't have any friends, or I don't like school.
- 5:51Speaker 3: I hate school. That's a good clue for me. You know,
- 5:53Speaker 3: why do you hate school? What's going on?
- 5:55Speaker 1: What's going on at school that you hate about it?
- 5:57Speaker 1: So it's just that chit chat, that early report, or
- 6:01Speaker 1: hearing a bit about the journey and listening the GP
- 6:04Speaker 1: who listens to the parent is such a good GP.
- 6:07Speaker 3: It's just listening the feedback. I gad is.
- 6:10Speaker 1: All I wanted was just to let all this information out, just.
- 6:14Speaker 3: To let it off my chest.
- 6:16Speaker 1: I've really struggled for so long and not really been
- 6:19Speaker 1: able to know who to talk to.
- 6:20Speaker 2: So as you're answering that question and sharing those ideas,
- 6:23Speaker 2: I'm imagining a lot of parents are going, yeah, my
- 6:25Speaker 2: GP's never done anything like that. Let me ask you
- 6:28Speaker 2: a provocative question around this topic, Andrew, I would imagine
- 6:32Speaker 2: that from time to time, maybe even frequently, as you're
- 6:35Speaker 2: talking with the parent, talking with the child, trying to
- 6:37Speaker 2: understand really what's at the heart of the challenge, you
- 6:41Speaker 2: might feel you might discover that the child would probably
- 6:45Speaker 2: be doing better if there was more effective parenting happening.
- 6:50Speaker 2: That is, the child probably doesn't have autism, probably doesn't
- 6:52Speaker 2: have ADHD, probably isn't dealing with anything that's diagnosable.
- 6:55Speaker 3: What we're really dealing with.
- 6:56Speaker 2: Is a parenting issue. How do you communicate that with
- 6:59Speaker 2: a parent and in a way that makes them responsive
- 7:02Speaker 2: and receptive to you actually continuing to work with them
- 7:04Speaker 2: and guide them.
- 7:05Speaker 1: First of all, holding no judgment and letting parents know
- 7:11Speaker 1: there is no perfect way to parent and that we
- 7:14Speaker 1: all make mistakes. And I love normalizing it. In fact,
- 7:17Speaker 1: I love bringing in some of my own examples of
- 7:20Speaker 1: when I've had a difficult moment with my daughter. You
- 7:23Speaker 1: know how I sometimes get overwhelmed, and how I sometimes
- 7:26Speaker 1: snap and react, And it's human. It's a very it
- 7:30Speaker 1: can be very intense at home. Sometimes it can be emotional,
- 7:34Speaker 1: and I think just normalizing it and also letting parents
- 7:37Speaker 1: know I'm seeing this every day. I'm seeing parents who
- 7:39Speaker 1: are struggling and having those moments of you know, despair
- 7:44Speaker 1: on a daily basis, you are not alone. And then
- 7:46Speaker 1: also I like to ask, in sort of a general way,
- 7:50Speaker 1: how do you react when your daughter or child's is screaming, angry, agitated,
- 7:57Speaker 1: melting down in the shops or at home or school.
- 8:00Speaker 3: How do you react?
- 8:01Speaker 1: I just want to know what sort of way you
- 8:03Speaker 1: deal with that, and that then helps me to understand
- 8:06Speaker 1: is that an effective method or can we work on
- 8:10Speaker 1: trying some other strategies. Now, gps are not typically trained
- 8:14Speaker 1: in parenting psychology, you know that sort of CBT cognitive
- 8:19Speaker 1: behavior therapy, but I think we can offer some pearls
- 8:22Speaker 1: and little tips and I think we're pretty good at
- 8:25Speaker 1: picking up when things aren't going well. And that's the
- 8:28Speaker 1: other thing is we often know the whole family. So
- 8:31Speaker 1: we often then see dad, or we see Mum, or
- 8:33Speaker 1: we see the siblings, the grandparents even and we get
- 8:37Speaker 1: to know that whole family unit, which is really helpful
- 8:40Speaker 1: because we know if Mum has some mental health challenges,
- 8:43Speaker 1: and we know if dad's really struggling with his emotions,
- 8:46Speaker 1: or he's working away a lot, and you know the
- 8:49Speaker 1: challenges that brings. So we can then start to help
- 8:52Speaker 1: the family as a whole and follow them up over time.
- 8:55Speaker 2: Andrew, when you sit down with a parent, you discover
- 8:59Speaker 2: that there is definitely some additional assistance and support required.
- 9:04Speaker 3: What's the process?
- 9:05Speaker 2: So let's say we're talking to a family and you
- 9:06Speaker 2: think this kid definitely needs to have some diagnostics carried out,
- 9:10Speaker 2: or this parent needs a level of support for their
- 9:13Speaker 2: own mental health issues, or they're just their parenting challenges.
- 9:16Speaker 2: What happens then, because most parents will say I can't
- 9:18Speaker 2: afford one hundred and eighty or two hundred and twenty
- 9:20Speaker 2: bucks every fortnight to go and see the psychologist. And
- 9:23Speaker 2: the reality is sometimes psychology work takes a while. I mean,
- 9:27Speaker 2: this can be a really expensive exercise. How do you
- 9:30Speaker 2: guide a parent to the support that they need. What's
- 9:32Speaker 2: the mental health plan process?
- 9:36Speaker 3: Yeah?
- 9:36Speaker 1: So it is costly and it is time consuming. I
- 9:42Speaker 1: would say that if the GP is concerned about a diagnosis,
- 9:46Speaker 1: to ask them to help you do a mental health
- 9:49Speaker 1: care plan that does provide some funding. There are gps
- 9:53Speaker 1: out there, and I understand this that might be hesitant
- 9:56Speaker 1: to do a mental health care plan on a child
- 9:59Speaker 1: because they're not certain about the diagnosis or they think
- 10:01Speaker 1: there might not be a diagnosis. But just keep explaining
- 10:05Speaker 1: that the challenges are ongoing, and as I said earlier,
- 10:08Speaker 1: you find the GP that will help you with this
- 10:10Speaker 1: process because it can be done, and it should be
- 10:13Speaker 1: done if you need that sort of also financial support.
- 10:16Speaker 1: But the other great thing about that mental health care
- 10:18Speaker 1: plan is that provides that link then to the psychologist.
- 10:21Speaker 1: It can also be used for an OT with a
- 10:24Speaker 1: mental health background or a social worker. A lot of
- 10:26Speaker 1: gps don't know that, So find the right person for you.
- 10:32Speaker 1: Get the mental health care plan done. That then provides
- 10:35Speaker 1: some funding for six sessions to start with to one
- 10:39Speaker 1: of those allied health providers. It can then be extended
- 10:42Speaker 1: to ten. It doesn't cover the entire cost, as you said,
- 10:46Speaker 1: justin some psychologists will charge two hundred and two hundred
- 10:49Speaker 1: and fifty dollars. It might mean that you have to
- 10:52Speaker 1: do some research on more affordable psychologists, and they.
- 10:55Speaker 3: Are out there.
- 10:56Speaker 1: There are a few, but they're often busier. But the
- 10:59Speaker 1: mentalth plans a good starting point. Once we've got that link.
- 11:02Speaker 1: Then I often get feedback from the psychologists about how
- 11:04Speaker 1: things are going, and we get a letter back, and
- 11:07Speaker 1: we can then open that communication and keep working on
- 11:10Speaker 1: and refining if there is a diagnosis, if there is
- 11:13Speaker 1: a neurodevelopmental disorder going on as well, you know that
- 11:16Speaker 1: we might be starting to think about referring on to
- 11:18Speaker 1: a pediutrician.
- 11:20Speaker 3: Andrew.
- 11:20Speaker 2: When I listen to this process, it all sounds seamless,
- 11:24Speaker 2: it all makes sense, but we know that life's kind
- 11:26Speaker 2: of messy.
- 11:26Speaker 3: We know that it's.
- 11:27Speaker 2: Really hard to get into a GP, let alone quote
- 11:29Speaker 2: unquote the right one. Then you get these six visits
- 11:33Speaker 2: to a psychologist. But one thing that we know from
- 11:36Speaker 2: research is that the therapeutic alliance, that is the relationship
- 11:39Speaker 2: between the psychologist and the client is one of the
- 11:42Speaker 2: biggest indicators of how will that client works through managers
- 11:46Speaker 2: and even recovers when we're talking about their mental health challenges,
- 11:51Speaker 2: those difficulties that they're experiencing. If I go and see
- 11:54Speaker 2: a psychologist and I've got to wait three months to
- 11:57Speaker 2: get in, if I'm lucky, it's probably going to be
- 11:58Speaker 2: more than that. But let's say I geting because of it,
- 12:00Speaker 2: says Oh, this one's great, and it just doesn't feel right.
- 12:04Speaker 2: Am I now down to five with the next psychologists?
- 12:06Speaker 2: Or does it revert to six so that I can
- 12:07Speaker 2: try again? You're down to five, right, And so the
- 12:12Speaker 2: idea that and this is where it starts to get
- 12:14Speaker 2: complex because long wait times, you don't really know what
- 12:17Speaker 2: you're getting. Just because everyone else said he or she
- 12:19Speaker 2: is great doesn't mean that they're going to be great
- 12:22Speaker 2: for you. What's safety in there? What support? What other
- 12:28Speaker 2: advice can you offer? When a parent tries maybe two
- 12:31Speaker 2: or even three psychologists to get the right relationship, the
- 12:35Speaker 2: right alliance, to get the right opportunities for progress, how
- 12:38Speaker 2: do they get there?
- 12:39Speaker 1: It's a really great question justin the challenge there is
- 12:43Speaker 1: you are using up the sessions on the mental health
- 12:46Speaker 1: plan for each psychologist that you visit. It's not uncommon
- 12:50Speaker 1: for parents to find the first one is not the
- 12:53Speaker 1: right one. And I tell them not no one's offended
- 12:56Speaker 1: by that. That it's okay to say, look, we're just
- 12:58Speaker 1: not clicking, or this psychologists just doesn't have the interest
- 13:02Speaker 1: area that we were seeking.
- 13:04Speaker 2: And so hard to know after like an how long
- 13:06Speaker 2: visit as well.
- 13:06Speaker 1: It's so hard to know and often that first session
- 13:09Speaker 1: is just taking a history, so there's not much therapy
- 13:11Speaker 1: going on in that first session or even the second session,
- 13:13Speaker 1: and so parents will come back to me saying, you
- 13:16Speaker 1: just spent an hour talking to me about what was
- 13:18Speaker 1: going on, which is what you did, and I will
- 13:20Speaker 1: say they needed to.
- 13:21Speaker 3: Find that out.
- 13:23Speaker 1: So oh, look, I actually think it's good to give
- 13:26Speaker 1: them a go, give them a chance to connect. I
- 13:29Speaker 1: find it hard to connect in half an hour or
- 13:31Speaker 1: even fifteen minutes with the child. Give them a chance
- 13:35Speaker 1: to build the rapport. And if that five six sessions
- 13:38Speaker 1: is not working out, look it is tricky. There's no
- 13:43Speaker 1: way around Medicare to try and reset that except to
- 13:46Speaker 1: say that it resets each year, so it'll start again.
- 13:50Speaker 1: There are a further four sessions, so that takes you
- 13:52Speaker 1: up to ten. During COVID, we were really lucky to
- 13:55Speaker 1: have twenty sessions that we could use and they can
- 13:59Speaker 1: be changed between psychologists. But I have a feeling that
- 14:02Speaker 1: funding is about to be cut unfortunately, so it's going
- 14:06Speaker 1: to come back to ten sessions. Look at private health
- 14:08Speaker 1: insurance options. If you do have private health insurance, some
- 14:11Speaker 1: will fund part of that amount. But look, it's not
- 14:16Speaker 1: just the psychologist. It's not just the GP. There are
- 14:19Speaker 1: other supports that you could be seeking in that time
- 14:21Speaker 1: that you're waiting to get the right help. And I
- 14:26Speaker 1: tend to get that pediatric referral early. If I think
- 14:29Speaker 1: there is a neurodevelopmental disorder in wa, we're having a
- 14:32Speaker 1: real issue getting a pediatrician for children. It takes a
- 14:36Speaker 1: long time. It can take parents twelve plus months to.
- 14:38Speaker 3: Get a pediatrician.
- 14:40Speaker 1: So get that referral early and get in the wait
- 14:43Speaker 1: lists of the pediatricians. I really love to involve the teacher.
- 14:48Speaker 1: The teacher is spends half the time with the child.
- 14:51Speaker 1: So how do I involve the teacher. I'll send them
- 14:53Speaker 1: an email, say, look, little Johnny's having trouble with his feelings,
- 14:57Speaker 1: his emotions. I am wondering about also ADHD or I'm
- 15:01Speaker 1: wondering about a mental health disorder. Can you just keep
- 15:04Speaker 1: an eye out for him and maybe have a look
- 15:07Speaker 1: at some ways around supporting him in the classroom. You know,
- 15:11Speaker 1: I don't like telling teachers what to do, because they
- 15:13Speaker 1: know the children best and they know what works well,
- 15:16Speaker 1: and they're busy too, But just letting them know, just
- 15:19Speaker 1: flagging it with them.
- 15:20Speaker 2: Yeah, I love I love it because parents probably don't
- 15:23Speaker 2: usually know that they can ask the doctor to give
- 15:26Speaker 2: them some kind of information to pass on to the tea.
- 15:28Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and I will get a letter back from
- 15:31Speaker 1: the teacher saying thank you, thank you for raising this.
- 15:33Speaker 1: I'm going to keep you in the loop about how
- 15:36Speaker 1: how this child is going. And I love that because
- 15:38Speaker 1: then we're sort of starting to create a little team
- 15:41Speaker 1: around the child. There's there's other ways as well. You know,
- 15:45Speaker 1: it might be it might be getting the child to
- 15:49Speaker 1: enroll in a in a social group or a sports
- 15:51Speaker 1: program or something that helps build their social skills and confidence,
- 15:54Speaker 1: and that is therapeutic. Enrolling in your program, Justin. I
- 15:59Speaker 1: tell them all all in Justin's program. That is a
- 16:01Speaker 1: nice bridge towards towards that psychology appointment that you're waiting for,
- 16:06Speaker 1: or in between psychology appointments. And there's a few other
- 16:10Speaker 1: online cognity behavior programs like the Brave program that is
- 16:13Speaker 1: really great for anxiety in children, which is online. So
- 16:17Speaker 1: just just little things on the way and keep coming
- 16:19Speaker 1: back to GP.
- 16:20Speaker 3: You know.
- 16:21Speaker 1: I encourage parents to book in at least once a
- 16:24Speaker 1: term for a long appointment to touch base and let
- 16:28Speaker 1: me know how they're going, and if they're really struggling
- 16:30Speaker 1: with that psychologist or finding the right person, we'll just
- 16:34Speaker 1: keep working on it. That's all we can do, really,
- 16:38Speaker 1: and looking for alternatives that might help with that child's journey.
- 16:42Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 16:42Speaker 2: I like that. Just keep working on it. It's kind
- 16:45Speaker 2: of the mantra for life, isn't it so, Andrew? If
- 16:48Speaker 2: I was to summarize, basically, when you're worried about your
- 16:51Speaker 2: own mental health or that of your children, get in
- 16:54Speaker 2: see the GP to the extent that you can find
- 16:56Speaker 2: a GP who's going to be trained in mental health
- 17:00Speaker 2: or pediatrics, or a combination of the two. Get on
- 17:03Speaker 2: the mental health care plan. Hopefully find a psychologist. Hopefully
- 17:07Speaker 2: find a psychologist that you can have a good relationship
- 17:09Speaker 2: with as well, so that you just it's not about
- 17:12Speaker 2: just finding a site, it's about getting the relationship right.
- 17:14Speaker 2: And then continue the communication, continue the progress. Talk to
- 17:18Speaker 2: the teacher, bring that alliance of people together, the occupational
- 17:22Speaker 2: therapist or the social worker or just somebody else. And
- 17:26Speaker 2: I love what you said right at the end. Get
- 17:28Speaker 2: the kids outside, get them involved in sports, get them
- 17:31Speaker 2: being physically active, get them doing the stuff that we
- 17:33Speaker 2: know is associated with great health.
- 17:35Speaker 1: One of my biggest tips is turn off the screens
- 17:39Speaker 1: and go outside and play and go back to sort
- 17:42Speaker 1: of the basics good sleep, eating well and play and
- 17:47Speaker 1: social skills and getting them you know, get invite a
- 17:49Speaker 1: friend over. You know, some of those basics are so
- 17:53Speaker 1: powerful for child mental health that you know, we often
- 17:57Speaker 1: end up not needing that extra support because we're figured out.
- 18:01Speaker 1: It's made it a lot easier. I know it's not
- 18:03Speaker 1: that simple, but it's just just those practical things that
- 18:07Speaker 1: sometimes we forget as parents because we are also overwhelmed
- 18:10Speaker 1: and busy and just to finish. Also, Justin, parents can
- 18:13Speaker 1: also access the mental health care plan for themselves if
- 18:16Speaker 1: they are also struggling with a mental health diagnosis or illness.
- 18:21Speaker 1: So you know, it's not uncommon for me to get
- 18:23Speaker 1: the parent back for them to also referred on to
- 18:26Speaker 1: a psychologist, and I think that is really important that
- 18:29Speaker 1: they are supported as well, and that helps with the
- 18:32Speaker 1: whole family network.
- 18:34Speaker 2: Terrific Andrew, great talking to you, Thanks so much.
- 18:37Speaker 1: Thanks Justin. Great to be part of the program.
- 18:38Speaker 2: Andrew Leach is a GP based in Perth, Western Australia.
- 18:42Speaker 2: I kind of wish that he was just down the
- 18:43Speaker 2: road from me. I think it'd be handy to have
- 18:45Speaker 2: a GP like Andrew around if you'd like more information
- 18:48Speaker 2: about the things that we've talked about, heaps of information
- 18:51Speaker 2: you'll find that in the show notes. We'll link to
- 18:53Speaker 2: all of the different resources that Andrew has highlighted as
- 18:56Speaker 2: we've discussed things throughout this podcast. And if you like
- 18:59Speaker 2: more information about me your family happier. We love it
- 19:01Speaker 2: when you check out Happy families dot com dot au.
- 19:04Speaker 2: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Ruland from
- 19:06Speaker 2: Bridge Media. Craig Bruce is our executive producer.
- 19:09Speaker 3: Tomorrow, on the podcast book Club
- 19:11Speaker 2: We only get to do it once a month, and
- 19:12Speaker 2: Tomorrow it's the day Kylie and I are going to
- 19:14Speaker 2: let you know the best stuff we've read over the
- 19:16Speaker 2: last month