A key role for PHN continues to be the commissioning of Psychological Therapies to complement fee for service Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) based mental health services. This is achieved through targeting population groups who are not easily able to access these services or for whom these services do not meet their needs.

PHNs are required to identify service gaps and commission short term Psychological Therapies targeting the needs of people with mild to moderate mental illness, who are underserviced by MBS based psychological treatment.

Psychological Therapies services are targeted at providing support to people with a mild to moderate mental illness and are designed to be structured reasonably frequent interventions Psychological. Therapies for underserviced groups provide evidence based, structured short term, low or medium intensity psychological intervention to people with a diagnosable mild, moderate or in some cases severe mental illness. They also offer evidence based psychological interventions for people who have attempted, or are at risk of, suicide or self harm and where access to other services is not available or appropriate.

Demand modelling estimates that approximately 9% of the population could benefit from Psychological Therapies. In the Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN region this translates to approximately 33,312 people when considered in the context of adults aged 20 to 65 years, noting that Psychological Therapies services are also in scope for children and older persons.

In response to the need identified within the Darling Downs and West Moreton Regions, this open tender process seeks to identify suitable service provider or providers to deliver Psychological Therapies for underserviced groups in the Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley and Somerset LGAs