HelpingMinds are very proud to be one of the 80 mental health organisations across the country calling for Health and Mental Health Ministers to take serious action at the Ministers’ meeting on 16 August.
In a joint Statement of Priorities released today, the mental health sector has outlined priority actions and next steps for Australian, State and Territory Governments to implement immediately to improve access to mental health supports.
The key points are as follows
- Immediate Public Release and Co-Funding Agreement: Agree to release the national analysis of unmet need for psychosocial support outside the NDIS and recommend a co-funding agreement to address this unmet need.
- Ongoing Ministerial Meetings: Commit to twice-yearly meetings of mental health ministers to discuss sector and reform priorities, as part of the governance function of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement.
- National Accord for Support System: Commit to a national accord to co-fund a support system bridging primary and acute care, which will be:
- Human rights-based and person-centred
- Co-produced by people with lived experience, their families, carers, and the broader mental health sector
- Culturally safe, viewed through a social and emotional wellbeing lens
- Funded through the next National Health Reform Agreement to increase investment in community-managed mental health services
- Integrated and complementary to the NDIS
- Supported by appropriate data.
