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Today is World Mental Health Day, providing an opportunity for us to focus as a nation on an issue that affects us all. “With one in five Australians experiencing a mental illness in the next 12 months, mental health is an issue we all must take seriously,” Mental Health Australia CEO Frank Quinlan said.

To mark World Mental Health Day, sector peak Mental Health Australia is running their ‘Mental Health Begins with Me!’ campaign, encouraging people to take personal ownership of their own mental health and wellbeing.

Mental Health Australia has called for a complete rethink of the way the welfare system treats people with psychosocial disabilities associated with mental illness. Responding to the Interim Report from the current Review of Australia’s Welfare System, Mental Health Australia has rejected the Review’s proposal that the Disability Support Pension be provided only to people who have ‘a permanent disability with no capacity to work’. “Why would we re-build a system that is based on people continuously proving how sick they are, rather than a system focussed on assisting people to fully realise their potential?” Mental Health Australia CEO Frank Quinlan said.

The Mental Health Council of Australia ( MHCA ) has today launched its new name – Mental Health Australia. “Mental Health Australia more accurately reflects our role and function as the national peak for mental health in this country,” Mental Health Australia CEO Frank Quinlan said.