consumers and carers

Perspectives Newsletter - August 2014. When Kiss front man Gene Simmons said depressed people and those contemplating suicide should go ahead and kill themselves he sparked a social media storm and was rightly, and universally condemned. Mental Health Australia’s CEO looks at the issues surrounding celebrities and how their statements can influence stigma.

Perspectives Newsletter - August 2014. Since the establishment of the MLC Community Foundation, millions has been gifted to both enhance and establish mental health programs and services. In this article, their Manager, Luke Branagan, outlines a few of their latest contributions to the mental health sector.

Perspectives Newsletter - August 2014. Welfare is currently the subject of heated debate. Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on who should receive welfare, when, how much and why. In this article, Mental Health Australia’s CEO discusses the key issues surrounding welfare reform in Australia.

This is a joint submission from the Mental Health Council of Australia and the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum in response to the Interim Report by the Reference Group on Welfare Reform. It addresses and responds to what we believe are the key issues for the mental health sector (including consumers and carers) arising out the Interim Report.

This document outlines some of the key issues for the mental health sector, including consumers and carers in the Interim Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform to the Minister for Social Services (The McClure Report) including: changes to eligibility for the Disability Support Pension, a proposal to reduce the number of payments, a measure to address the gap between the full rate of pensions and allowances, proposed changes to the Care Payment and Carer Allowance, a summary of the report’s sections on mental health and employment, proposals around early intervention and ‘high risk groups’ and a summary of what the report had to say about the role of the NDIS in increasing economic and social participation by people with disabilities and carers.

This is the third submission from the Mental Health Council of Australia ( MHCA ) to the National Mental Health Commission ( NMHC ) to inform the NMHC ’s current review of mental health programmes. It articulates the MHCA ’s priorities for the mental health system going forward. The contents are informed by detailed consultations with consumers and carers and other mental health stakeholders and proposes priorities and actions to drive long term policy and systemic reforms

This document contains the minutes of the teleconference of the Mental Health Council of Australia’s NDIS Capacity Building Project – Project Advisory Group meeting. The Project Advisory Group is meeting on an on-going basis to provide expert advice to the MHCXA about the needs of the mental health sector in relation to the NDIS .

Perspectives Newsletter - June 2014. Business owners and leaders need to take mental health in the workplace just as seriously as they do the physical health and safety of their employees. To do this, beyondblue recently launched Heads Up, a joint initiative with the Mentally Health Workplace Alliance, to encourage Australian businesses to invest in and focus on promoting good mental health practices and policies in their workplaces.

Perspectives Newsletter - June 2014. The introduction of the NDIS will transform the way the community managed mental health sector delivers services to people with a mental illness. These changes will challenge the capacity of agencies to deliver against their vision and mission, cause us to rethink our role in facilitating recovery, and threaten our alignment with evidence based practice.

Perspectives Newsletter - June 2014. Discussions about a common national mental health research agenda in Australia have been an important topic for key mental health scientists. As part of this discussion the Psychosis Australia Trust completed a study to investigate research priorities in psychosis from the perspective of people directly affected by mental illness.