There were no surprises for community mental health in the State Budget last week, given the Government’s stated emphasis on meeting election commitments and the number of major plans and strategies currently in train by Government in the mental health area.

But it was interesting to note no reference to their roadmap, the ‘Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Services Plan 2015-2025’, the update to this plan that is currently underway, or its target of balancing the system towards five per cent of total spending on prevention activities by 2025. In fact, the cuts to prevention spending slated in last’s year’s budget were maintained, bringing the total cuts to 41 per cent over two years.

While we understand the Government is committed to the 10-year plan, we are now very keen to get a sense of what their immediate priorities for reform and implementation will be. At WAAMH, we’ll be focussed on:

• Meeting the above-mentioned prevention target
• Balancing the system to provide more community supports
• Intervening early so people have the best chance of recovery
• Making sure those who are most vulnerable have access to timely and appropriate mental health supports
• Making sure people’s human rights are protected
• Ensuring safe and contemporary service design
• Equitable service access for people in rural and regional areas

WAAMH will be watching closely for an articulation of the Government’s reform priorities in coming months and looks forward to working with them to realise this shift.

Taryn Harvey
Chief Executive Officer
Western Australian Association for Mental Health

Thank you to the many WAAMH members who took the time recently to complete our 2018 Member Survey. It helps us greatly to understand your preferences, so we can provide information and services that are useful and timely. The graphic above provides a quick overview of our engagement with you in the past 12 months and the information that will help shape our planning for the future.

Those survey respondents who provided their contact details went in the draw to be the lucky winners of free WAAMH training – those pulled out of the hat have now been notified and will be able to book their training when the Semester 2 WAAMH Training Calendar is released in June. Congratulations!

2018-2019 WAAMH membership renewals and applications will soon be announced. Contact membership@waamh.org.au if you'd like to go on our list for an application pack when they are open.

WA’s Budget was released on Thursday, 10th May.
Read WAAMH's Budget overview and analysis.
Read the WA Government's mental health budget commitments.

The Federal Budget was released on Tuesday, 8 May.
Federal Budget commentary from Community Mental Health Australia.
Federal Budget overview video from Mental Health Australia.

WAAMH’s recent advocacy has included input into the design of the Complex Needs and Psychosocial Pathways (aimed at helping people have a positive experience accessing the NDIS), by providing WA data about the proportion of consumers using PHaMS services who are successful in accessing the NDIS to our national peak CMHA, and pressing the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS for a strategy to enable people who are most marginalised by our society to access the NDIS, including people in the justice system, people with psychosocial disability and Aboriginal people in remote areas.

Hon Alanna Clohesy, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Mental Health - Planned Mental Health Week activities including engaging Members of Parliament, and presented in detail on the critical communication and fragmentation issues young people are identifying in our Youth Services Integration Project. We sought her support in resolving the patient flow problems in WA’s emergency departments, the need for a stronger focus on priority populations in the MHC’s forthcoming Prevention and Promotion Plan, and the urgent need to improve forensic services for young people.

Peter Tinley, Minister for Youth, Housing and Veteran’s Affairs - We told Minister Tinley about the major gaps between services and the significant challenges in navigating around the mental health and related systems that young people are identifying in WAAMH's Youth Services Integration Project. We're confident the Minister understands the range of issues that impact on people’s mental health like poverty, secure and safe housing and employment, and we told him about Individual Placement and Support as an evidence-based approach that can improve outcomes in these areas. 

Hon Jacqui Boydell, Mental Health Spokesperson for the Nationals WA - WAAMH staff recently met with the Nationals WA about the mental health needs of people in rural and remote WA and the issues young people are identifying through our Youth Services Integration Project. We discussed the need to improve the social determinants of mental health, like stigma, jobs, safe and stable homes, and poverty. We asked them to support the reform of WA’s indefinite detention laws (the CLMIA Act) when these come before Parliament this year. WAAMH will brief them on the details of the Bill when it is available and again seek their support.

WAAMH would like to thank everyone who contributed to the WAAMH survey on the Senate Inquiry currently been conducted into mental health services in the regions. Almost 200 responses were received and WAAMH is now working on the submission for the inquiry. For those who are interested, we've been providing some early insights on the WAAMH facebook page, such as the one at right. The final submission will be available to view on the WAAMH website once it is completed.

Mental Health Australia is managing an exciting project which aims to develop alternative ways to provide support for NDIS participants with psychosocial disability than those currently on offer at this stage of NDIS rollout. Over the coming months, they will be working with consumers, carers and other experts through a Delphi process to refine a set of alternative typical support packages. The starting point will be existing evidence, including empirical service use and outcomes data held by providers. More information.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care is doing a review of the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights, and has developed a survey to gather as much feedback as possible from the Australian community, with results used to develop the next version of charter. Go to the survey.

The WA Peer Supporters’ Network has recently released the ‘Peer Workforce Report: Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drug Services’, which presents the findings of a 2017 multi-stakeholder Peer Workforce Study in WA. It provides an overall picture of peer workforce demand, benefit, supply, uptake and workforce sustainability factors and offers a blueprint for sector change to address limited uptake of the peer workforce and peer workforce sustainability challenges. The report calls for strategic and coordinated commitment to fully establish peer work as a core workforce in our state and includes recommendations to policy makers, commissioners and services.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care recently released this new report following extensive research from which a set of 28 clusters of signs were arranged into five indicators:
• Reported change
• Distress
• Loss of touch with reality or consequences of behaviours
• Loss of function
• Elevated risk to self, others or property.
The Commission will now undertake further work with stakeholders on the alignment of the proposed signs with existing systems to ensure safe and effective response to deterioration in a person’s mental state. More information.

IPS Works is a service provided by WAAMH to support organisations to implement the internationally acclaimed Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment.
To ensure we stay at the forefront of skills in the evidence-based employment model, two of our team recently attended IPS Leadership Training with the developers of the researched and evidence based IPS model at the ‘IPS Employment Centre’ in New Hampshire, US. There they joined 24 other practitioners from Iceland, Netherlands, Norway and the US who oversee or support the implementation of IPS, conduct fidelity reviews and provide training. WAAMH’s Cassie and Roshani provide those services for IPS Works in support of the 32 sites across Australia implementing or providing IPS employment services to people with complex needs including mental health challenges.

IPS also gained a significant profile lift with the release of the KPMG and Mental Health Australia report ‘Investing to Save – The Economic Benefits for Australia of Investment in Mental Health Reform’ in which a key employment recommendation is to ‘provide supports to people with a severe mental health illness to gain employment’ noting that ‘there is a strong evidence base behind the IPS model’ and further, recommending a rollout of IPS to 10,000 people with a severe mental health illness from which there is a $2.30 return on investment in the long term. More information on IPS Works.

The new website comorbidityguidelines.org.au provides evidence-based information, training and resources to assist with the management of co-occurring, or comorbid, AOD and mental health conditions. The content is based on the second edition of the 'Guidelines on the Management of Co-occurring Alcohol and Other Drug and Mental Health Conditions in Alcohol & Other Drug Treatment Settings' developed by the Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use, with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health.

The Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet has launched a new website with responsive design that will support the workforce more than ever before, on any platform in any location. Watch a short film from Director Neil Drew about the new site.  More information.

Five new ‘Mental Health Access Snapshots’ have been released by the NDIS to provide specific, detailed information to people with psychosocial disability, their supporters and service providers. These snapshots are designed to assist people to understand the requirements of the access process in relation to psychosocial disability and to demystify the access process, and were co-designed with members of the National Mental Health Sector Reference Group and people with lived experience.
1. General information about how the NDIS can support your mental health
2. Impairment and mental health in the NDIS
3. Recovery and the NDIS
4. Functional capacity and mental health issues
5. NDIS and other services supporting your mental health

Revive and Refresh is a free two-day retreat designed to offer respite and enhance wellbeing for unpaid mental health carers who live in Perth’s north metro region. The retreat includes twin share accommodation, all meals and your choice of wellbeing workshops:

• Winter wellness
• Mindfulness and relaxation
• Work-life balance
• Beginners yoga
• Laughter therapy

Plus pampering and body care in our Wellbeing Lounge and recreation options including mini-golf, tennis, sauna, jacuzzi, games, and bushwalking. Funding is available for respite care if required on the day. To register, you must meet the eligibility criteria set out in the registration form including the carers place of residence being in the north metro region. More information.

Graduates from WAAMH’s Recovery Stories series come together in an intimate setting to share their mental health recovery journeys with the community. Join us for an afternoon of live entertainment as our diverse range of speakers weave together their newfound skills, bringing you engaging and inspiring insight into the journey of mental health recovery. Live music and afternoon tea included. General public: $15, concession: $10. More information.

Positive psychology is the scientific study of human flourishing and is a pragmatic, gentle and encouraging workshop followed by a celebration dinner at Taste Budds Cooking Studio. This free workshop and dinner is designed to offer practical tools to increase wellbeing and positive feelings for unpaid mental health carers who live in Perth’s North Metro region. To register, you must meet the eligibility criteria set out in the registration form including the carers’ place of residence being in the North Metro region.
More information.

Below is just a taste of our full training offering this semester. Go to the WAAMH website to see the entire semester one offering and to book your place now.

24 May Drugs, Alcohol & Mental Health - ROCKINGHAM
28 May Dissociative Disorders
29 May Persuasive Speaking Showcase
30 May Successful Grant Writing ONLY THREE PLACES LEFT
6 Jun Managing Mental Health in Workplace
7 Jun Dual Disability: Mental Health & Disability
13 Jun Obsessions and Compulsions
14 Jun Sexual and Gender Diversity & Mental Health -  BUNBURY
14 Jun Everyday Counselling Skills (2 Day Workshop)
19 Jun Trauma Informed Care
21 Jun Understanding Personality Disorders
26 Jun De-escalation Techniques

Save the date for the Second National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Conference, to be held on November 20-21 and followed by the 2018 Word Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference on November 22-23. Both will be held at Rendezvous Hotel Perth, Scarborough. Watch the website for further information.

Richmond Wellbeing, WA's first Rainbow Tick accredited organisation, and partners, formally invite you to attend the 2nd Pride in Practice forum, bringing together leaders and decision-makers to participate in the development of a strategy to support organisations to provide services that are LGBTI inclusive. They invite LGBTI community members to contribute valuable insight and perspective from the community. This is a free event to be held at Richmond Wellbeing Centre, 29 Manning Road, Cannington WA. More information.

To be held in Adelaide from 28th-31st August, The annual TheMHS Conference is a highlight on the mental health calendar. You can now register and find out more about this year's keynote speakers.

Are you passionate about sharing your lived experience of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) or supporting a family member/friend with BPD, or a clinician/researcher working to develop new ways to support people with BPD? If so we’d love to hear from you. The organisers of the 8th Annual National Borderline Personality Disorder Conference 2018 are seeking:
• A person with lived experience of BPD to present a keynote address
• A person with lived experience of being a family member/friend supporting someone with BPD to present a keynote address
• An experienced clinician or advocate in the field of BPD to present a keynote address
• Presenters for workshops for people with BPD (consumers), families/friends (carers) or clinicians
• People to be a facilitator or a member of a panel
• A researcher presenting about their current work

Want to discuss your ideas with someone or need some assistance? Email to admin@bpdfoundation.org.au or phone 0458 469 274.