The Australian Government Department of Health called for submissions on Action 9 of the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan.
The National Mental Health Consumer & Carer Forum (NMHCCF) submitted a response to the call for submissions on 25 September 2020.
Reason for the submission
The Australian Department of Health sought feedback on the Draft ‘National Guidelines to improve coordination of treatment and supports for people with severe and complex mental illness’ – Action 9 of the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan. A focus group with the NMHCCF was run by HTAnalsysts, who were leading the work. Subsequent feedback was provided as a range of additional issues were identified.
The NMHCCF’s submission focused on the following key points:
- The draft guidelines do not align with the principles listed in the draft. The draft guidelines have been written from a provider perspective rather than a lived experience perspective. As such the resulting goals and actions do not address the important principles required to bring about the cultural change required to make the significant changes to systems that are required to meet the needs of people with severe and complex mental illness.
- A holistic approach to the person is required, so that an individual can regain agency and citizenship, including physical and financial wellbeing, rather than having a 'condition' managed. The current draft guidelines are very clinically driven rather than coming from a lived experience basis.
Download a copy of the submission
Submission to the Australian Government Department Of Health on Action 9 of The Fifth National Mental Health And Suicide Prevention Plan - 25 Sep, 2020
To find out more about the NMHCCF’s other submissions, click here.
A link to the submissions page on the Australian Government Department of Health is not available.
