CEO Update - Unity, advocacy and action... the opportunity is now
Unity, advocacy and action… the opportunity is now
‘Disunity is death’… a political saying we’ve all heard before.
It’s universally considered a wise strategy for politicians on the same side, even when they disagree, to set their differences aside to pursue a higher political goal.
On both sides of politics, we hardly ever hear of the debates that are conducted ‘Cabinet in Confidence’, and only really hear the party line that emerges from those debates.
A unified party line.
In the mental health sector, there is often a view that we are ‘fragmented’ and that we struggle to agree on a ‘party’ line. I don’t think this is true.
Like anywhere else in life, people in mental health, stakeholders frequently argue for their particular part of the puzzle, or advocate to fill a particular gap in the system. A gap that is close to their experience. Gaps that all need action. I do not think this arguing for action and advocacy is the same as being ‘fragmented’.
Amongst the thousands of mental health stakeholders who read this message today, would anyone argue that the system shouldn’t be ‘person centred’?
Would anyone argue that we shouldn’t be addressing the social determinants of mental health as an urgent priority? Would anyone argue that we do not need to intervene earlier?
Would anyone argue that we do not need to offer support that addresses the whole of a person’s life experience and circumstances: housing, employment, relationships, and trauma?
Would anyone argue that we should not be expanding the role of peer workers and supporting carers?
Would there be anyone suggesting there are not gaps in our current support offerings? Anyone arguing against more community based interventions and doing all we can to reduce hospitalisations and acute care?
Anyone who thinks that our current intergovernmental arrangements for governance and funding are just what the country needs?
I think NOT. We are on the same side. We are not fragmented. This is unity.
So how can we use our unity to argue and advocate for the common good in mental health reform?
The Productivity Commission is currently conducting an inquiry into mental health in Australia and investigating many things, including:
- “examining the effectiveness of current programs and initiatives across all jurisdictions to improve mental health, suicide prevention and participation, including by governments, employers and professional groups.”
So what can we do?
We can work together to ensure all governments, state, territory and Commonwealth have no choice but to implement and fund the recommendations set out by the Productivity Commission Inquiry when they are released in mid-2020.
To achieve this goal, Mental Health Australia is proposing we ‘the mental health sector’ do four things together:
- build a new, unified alliance to advance our goal; including consumers and carers, NGOs and other organisations, stakeholders, employers, everyone
- mobilise members of parliaments across the country to support and advance our cause
- coordinate the advocacy we are doing at state and territory level with the advocacy we are doing at the Commonwealth level
- and, empower local communities to talk to local members of parliaments across the country to demand they support our goal of having the Productivity Commission’s recommendations implemented.
The Productivity Commission Inquiry into mental health gives us a once in a generation opportunity to act. Let’s not let this moment pass.
Let’s mobilise our unity, join together for a common goal and advocate and argue for real and lasting action.
Warm regards,
Frank Quinlan
Chief Executive Officer
2019 Annual Issues and Opportunities Workshop
On Thursday and Friday we were pleased to host national mental health consumer and carer leaders in Melbourne for the Annual Issues and Opportunities Workshop. This event brought together members of the National Register, the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum (NMHCCF) and the CALD Mental Health Consumer and Carer Group. Through workshop sessions, participants discussed the current mental health policy landscape and met with key stakeholders, exploring and embracing the theme “Uniting Our Voices – people, policy and purpose.”
The National Multicultural Mental Health Project Team was also pleased to meet with the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Mental Health Consumer and Carer Group in Melbourne earlier in the week. Once again, it was an energised and passionate meeting, as the Group continues their important role in providing advice to the Project on mental health promotion, suicide prevention and improving services in our multicultural society.
NDIS Psychosocial Stream
Regular readers will already know that Mental Health Australia has begun work with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to improve the pathway to accessing psychosocial support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme. This work is a follow up to the consultations undertaken by Mental Health Australia last year that resulted in a range of recommendations that were provided to the NDIA in the NDIS Psychosocial Disability Pathway Report. The NDIA and Mental Health Australia have established a small working group (including a mental health consumer, service providers, and government officials).
This week Mental Health Australia hosted the second working group meeting at our offices in Canberra. The group held very positive discussions around:
- designing elements of the scheme that would better respond to the episodic nature of psychosocial disability
- understanding what type of activity the NDIA could undertake to better support people with psychosocial disability to prepare to access the scheme.
Mental Health Australia is encouraged by the NDIA’s genuine engagement in this process and looks forward to communicating with the sector about the group’s deliberations as more concrete information becomes available.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Monday, the Mental Health Australia office will be closed due to the Reconciliation Day public holiday in Canberra. Tuesday sees me travelling to Darwin, to participate in meeting 2 of the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ANACAD). This will be held over the 29th and 30th of May. On Thursday the Mental Health Australia FARM committee will be meeting via teleconference. On Friday, Harry Lovelock - Director of Policy and Projects will be attending the NDIA CEO Forum in Melbourne, and Emma Coughlan - Manager of Policy and Projects will be attending the Better Mental Health Care in Rural Emergency Departments Face-to-Face meeting in Melbourne. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
