Port Hedland, Western Australia.

The Pilbara Mental Health Mobile Respite Service was established in August 2008 as an innovative approach to providing respite for carers of people with mental illness, psychiatric and or intellectual disability living in remote towns and communities. It operates out of South Hedland and the workers travel throughout the Pilbara region.

The service is operated by a team of two people who, as Coordinator and Respite Care Worker, provide a mobile service using a four-wheel-drive vehicle and caravan, to carers and care recipients throughout the Pilbara.

Frontier Services also operates a complementary respite support service at the Pilbara Respite Service office in Port Hedland. This service provides administrative and training support to the two remote teams, ie the Mental Health Mobile team and the second Mobile Respite team which works mainly with carers of the aged and disabled.

Respite for carers provides them with a break from their usual caring role. The Mental Health Mobile Respite Service is designed to deliver flexible respite options to remote and rural communities, including Marble Bar, Nullagine, Jigalong Community and other Western Desert communities, Tom Price, Onslow, Karratha and Newman. The service is delivered so that people do not have to travel to the larger towns, such as Port Hedland and Karratha, for respite.