Connecting the Dots: Bringing Western Sydney Together for Mental Health

Better connections between GPs, mental health providers and community services are critical to making mental health care easier to navigate for people across Western Sydney.

That was the strong message from WentWest’s recent Mental Health Forum, Connecting the Dots: Mental Health in Western Sydney, which brought together GPs, health professionals, mental health services, community organisations and people with lived experience to strengthen referral pathways and build a more connected system.

The need is significant. In 2025–26, almost 6,800 people accessed WentWest-commissioned mental health support, including more than 4,100 people receiving psychological therapies, highlighting the important role of primary care and commissioned services in responding to mental health needs across the region.

More than 110 people registered for the forum, with the evening designed specifically to strengthen relationships across primary care, mental health services and community organisations.

The forum connected attendees with services including One Door Mental Health, STARTTS, North West Community Services, We Help Ourselves, the Parramatta and Blacktown Medicare Mental Health Centres, headspace, Uniting, Flourish Australia and Western Sydney Local Health District, alongside WentWest.

Keynote speaker Dr Paul Fung, Clinical Director of Uniting Recovery, presented The Power of Connection, exploring the role of connection, belonging and integrated mental health care, including the critical role GPs and primary care professionals play in connecting people with the right support.

A panel moderated by Scott Walters brought together Michelle Crockett, Craig Brown from Aboriginal Counselling Service, Hussein Kahil from Flourish Australia, consumer representative Aish Naidu and WentWest’s Jelly Magirazi. Together, they brought general practice, Aboriginal mental health, community mental health, lived experience and commissioning perspectives to the conversation.

A central theme was that having services available is only part of the answer. Consumers and healthcare professionals can still face challenges understanding what support exists, finding the right referral pathway and coordinating care between services, particularly when needs are complex or culturally specific.

The opportunity now is to turn the connections made at the forum into stronger integration across the system.

By building relationships between GPs and local providers, improving awareness of available services and strengthening referral and navigation pathways, the forum aims to support more coordinated, person-centred care for consumers across Western Sydney.

The message from the evening was clear: when GPs, providers and services know each other, understand what each other offers and have clearer pathways between them, we can build a mental health system that is easier for consumers to navigate. This is the connection the forum was designed to spark.

Find out more about the services that WentWest commissions: Mental Health – WentWest