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NMHCCF Webinar: Sexual Safety of Consumers in Mental Health Inpatient Units

01 October 2024

NMHCCF Webinar: Sexual Safety of Consumers in Mental Health Inpatient Units

Wednesday 30 October 2024

12.00-1.00pm AEDT via Zoom

The National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum (NMHCCF) hosted a webinar on its Advocacy Brief: Sexual Safety of Consumers in Mental Health Inpatient Units.

Sexual safety of consumers of all ages in mental health inpatient settings is a serious topic and a fundamental human right. Information on its prevalence is not generally provided to people accessing inpatient treatment units or given to their family, supporters, kin, or carers, nor is its risk widely known to the Australian public. Research has identified Intensive Care Areas as high-risk environments for breaches of sexual safety. In order to shine a light on this issue, the NMHCCF is appealing to policymakers through its extensive advocacy work so that together we can ensure the sexual safety of ourselves or our loved ones who happen to enter mental health inpatient units in Australia. 

The webinar consisted of an introduction of the topic of consumer sexual safety in mental health inpatient units by the NMHCCF's Advocacy Working Group before facilitating a panel discussion. The panel discussion involved the following three prominent speakers:

  • Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Rosemary Kayess.
  • Australian Chief Psychiatrist, Dr. Sophie Davison.
  • South Australian Deputy Chief Psychiatrist, Dr. Melanie Turner.

This was an informative and enlightening conversation on an often unexplored topic that requires immediate policy intervention. The sexual safety of consumers in mental health inpatient units is a human rights issue and it needs to be ensured by federal, state, and territory governments in all mental health facilities over which they have purview.

Please view the full recording below and circulate this page throughout your networks.