Welcome to 2016 which begins with welcomed news that the federal government will extend the current commonwealth mental health community funding contracts for three years. This is a positive break through following the intense advocacy work by WAAMH, our partner peaks in other states, CMHA and MHA that has been underway since the announcement that mental health would be included in the NDIS.

The inaugural WA Mental Health Conference is fast approaching, with an engaging program of over 50 sessions across four streams - Reflection, Diversity, Innovation and Wellbeing. Be sure to register here by the closing date, 26 February 2016. 

This year is a milestone year for WAAMH which is celebrating 50 years of involvement in the community mental health sector. There will be a number of opportunities to share this milestone with us. Read about WAAMH's history here.

I hope you enjoy reading this edition.

Rod Astbury
Chief Executive Officer
WA Association for Mental Health

There are a wealth of best practice tools and resources on WAAMH's website which have been curated from local and international sources. Each month we will highlight a tool, resource or topic in the eNews. This month's topic is Recovery. The concept of Recovery is difficult to define as it involves individual journeys through multiple stages and varying experiences. 

Click here to read WAAMH's resources on Recovery.

The WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) mission is to build a robust and responsive person centred primary and social care system through innovative and meaningful partnerships at the local and state wide level. WAPHA is the organisational backbone that unifies Western Australia's three Primary Health Networks (PHN) - Perth North PHN, Perth South PHN and Country WA PHN.

Commonwealth Reform

A must read for the sector: WAPHA has released its latest briefing about how Commonwealth reform will impact WA. It includes information on funding and program transition arrangements for Commonwealth funded programs including PIR and Day to Day Living, as well as Headspace transition arrangements and national leadership.

To read the briefing, click here. WAAMH will bring you more news as this critical reform unfolds.

Preventing the Costs and Consequences of Chronic Physical and Mental Diseases

The latest article from the Australian Health Policy Collaboration details a policy framework for integrated health care for mental and physical chronic disease, and the use of the PHNs as a mechanism.

This article reflects on the Australian health system and the real need to for the system to put in place integrated and collaborative care models.

To read, click here.

PHN Survey

The two key functions of the PHNs are to:

1. Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of primary care services for patients, particularly those at risk of poor health outcomes.

2. Improve coordination of care to ensure patients receive the right care in the right place at the right time.

To achieve the above the PHNs will plan and commission health service.

WAPHA seeks your opinion to assist in understanding the health and social issues specific to your community along with themes, trends, stories and recommendations.

Please participate in the survey, here.

Please contact Jane Harwood at WAPHA on jane.harwood@wapha.org.au with any queries about the survey.

New laws replacing the existing Associations Incorporation Act 1987 will come into effect from 1 July 2016, and apply to all existing incorporated associations in WA. 

These laws have been passed to assist incorporated associations in WA to operate more efficiently by providing them with a legal framework reflecting modern expectations around corporate governance and the need to protect the privacy of association members.

The new laws will involve new financial reporting requirements and will also require associations to review their rules or constitution within the next three years.

In the coming months the Department of Commerce will release a Transition Pack explaining what associations are required to do. Enrol for Associations Online now to ensure your contact details are up to date and that you are notified as soon as this Transition Pack becomes available. If you are not registered already you can request a username and password by completing the online enrolment form.

More information is available on the Department of Commerce website.

The McCusker Centre for Citizenship at the University of Western Australia aims to work in partnership with not-for-profit organisations to tackle pressing social issues.

The centre offers structured Internships for students, including in regional, remote and international communities, leadership and mentoring programs in conjunction with community organisations, and plans to be a focal point for important public forums addressing contemporary social challenges.

The centre is focussing initially on the development of quality, structured and mutually constructive internship opportunities for students, across a diverse range of not for profit and other community service organisations.

If your organisation would like to offer an internship or participate in the work of the Centre please contact Neysa on 6488 7873 or alternatively via email neysa.cloonan@uwa.edu.au.

For more details on the McCusker Centre for Citizenship at UWA go to www.mccuskercentre.uwa.edu.au.

The National Disability Services (NDS) conference 'Shaping the Future - Preparing for Change' will be held on 17 and 18 March 2016 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. This important disability sector event offers a comprehensive program focusing on the changing landscape for disability service provision in Western Australia.

Funding is available to assist people with disability and carers (including people with mental illness / psychosocial disorders) to attend the conference through a Lotterywest grant to NDS that may cover full or part funding, depending on the number of applications. For people with disability living in regional and remote areas, the funding is also available for accommodation and travel.

To apply, applicants should email their completed Expression of Interest form, available for download on the NDS website, to Julie Walton at julie.walton@nds.org.au  The deadline for applications is Friday 22 January 2016.

The premier event on the mental health sector calendar is approaching. Tickets are still available for the WA Mental Health Conference but are selling fast, so register now.

View the draft conference program here or have a look at who has come on board as a conference keynote speaker.

Wellbeing in the Workplace

Learn how to improve mental health in your business by attending the conference Workplace Wellness Symposium sponsored by Rio Tinto. This is a half day event open to the WA business community.

Youth Wellbeing Breakfast

Let young people know how you can help. Become a partner of the Youth Wellbeing Breakfast, it’s free.

Art & Wellbeing

Everyone is invited to get creative and design a postcard depicting what mental health means to them as part of the Mental Health Postcards Art Exhibition sponsored by Anglicare.

Thank you to our major sponsors and exhibitors who are making the WA Mental Health Conference possible.

WAAMH is delighted to announce a series of subsidised Mental Health training courses, scheduled for Bunbury, Kalgoorlie and Geraldton during Semester 1, 2016. This training is funded by the Mental Health Commission via WAAMH’s Regional Education, Access and Learning for Mental Health (REALM) program.

Two separate workshops are planned for each town and are open to the mental health sector and wider community:

• Mental Health Communication: range of tools and techniques for communicating effectively with people experiencing a wide range of mental health symptoms
• De-escalation Techniques: safely responding to   threatening, violent, aggressive and other unexpected or inappropriate behaviour.

Price: WAAMH Members: $58.00 / Non-members: $38.00

Places are limited. Click here to register.

This highly participative practice workshop with Ruah, Vincentcare, St Patricks, Central 55 and MiFWA will address the question ‘how can outcome measurement lead to better practice’?

This workshop will use storytelling as a guidepost to create innovative conversations about the realities of embedding measurement in organisations. Through a full day of inspiring speakers, participants will take away knowledge they can put into practice.

Date: 8 April 2016
Location: Lotteries House, Conference Room, 2 Delhi Street, West Perth
Price: WAAMH Members: $195.00 / Non-members: $225.00

To register, click here.

Are you looking to build your skills in working with volunteers who may have mental health issues? Would you like to know what is permitted by law and by our culture to ask volunteers about mental health issues? Could you use an overview of the different types of mental illnesses out there that some of your volunteers may have?

In partnership with Volunteering WA, WAAMH has developed a customised training session to support you as you work with volunteers who may have mental health issues.

Date: 11 February 2016
Location: Lotteries House, 2 Delhi Street, West Perth
Price: VWA members: $132.00 / Non-members: $176.00

To register, click here

A new WAAMH member organisation, Portland Broome, is hosting a free event for senior executives and board members of health sector organisations on ‘The Flexible Workforce – its risks and benefits.'

This seminar would be of interest to any organisation that has volunteer workers.

Date: 24 February 2016
Location: Bendat Centre, Wembley
Price: Free

To register, click here.

This full-day, free workshop will provide a safe space for people abused or traumatised in childhood to learn more about how their experience may have affected them, and to acquire tools for positive change and strategies for self-care.

This workshop is suitable for adult survivors (over 16 years of age) who have experienced any form of childhood trauma or abuse. This training is not suitable for health professionals.

Date: Saturday, 19 March 2016
Location: Adina Apartment Hotel Perth
Price: Free

To register, click here.

Mental health services are changing. The Australian Government announced in November 2015 its intention to move towards a person-centred whole-of-care approach to mental health based on localised decision-making. It has re-directed $365m in 2016/2017 away from the hospital sector and $200m from the drug and alcohol sector to pilot personalized models of care in regions, to be commissioned through, but not delivered by, 31 Primary Health Networks (PHNs).

This money will go towards individualized care packages, and alternatives to fee-for-service provision. The Commonwealth acknowledges that fee-for-service systems provide no incentive for practitioners and providers to develop the capacity of consumers for self-care and self-direction, nor do they enable consumers to support each other in their self-care.

The Consumer and Carer Co-Design Initiative in Mental Health in a national project to enable large numbers of consumers and carers to co-design and co-produce community-based mental health services with PHNs, service providers and practitioners.

This Conference will explore how consumers and carers can co-design mental health services. Featuring:

Professor Alan Rosen
Michael Burge OAM
Professor Jane Burns
Douglas Holmes
Dr Caroline Johnson
Ingrid Ozols
Dr Nicholas Gruen

Date: Tuesday 22 March Melbourne
To register, click here
For the program, click here

Community of Practice Blog
There are now seven blogs from the NDIS My Way trial sites (Lower South West and Cockburn Kwinana) meetings which you can read on WAAMH's website.

The three most recent topics all have applicability across the community managed mental health sector and provide links to useful resources and tools:

• Recovery;
• Advocacy; and
• Outcome Measures.

The National Disability Insurance Agency invites you to participate in consultations on key elements of the ILC Commissioning Framework.

In July 2015, all governments in Australia agreed to the ILC Policy Framework.  The policy has now been given to the Agency to implement.  The purpose of the Agency’s ILC Commissioning Framework is to translate the ILC Policy Framework into action.

This link will take you to the NDIS website and provides further explanation on the ways you can provide feedback on the Consultation Draft of the ILC Commissioning Framework, here.

In November the Council of Australian Governments approved an updated version of the ‘Principles to Determine Responsibilities of the NDIS and Other Service Systems’ with some clarification of the role of the NDIS for people with psychosocial disability on pages 6 - 7.

These principles are used to determine the funding and delivery responsibilities of the NDIS to achieve its vision.

The NDIS now agrees that recovery is within its remit and will be responsible for ‘ongoing psychosocial recovery supports’. This may also include family and carer supports to support them in their carer role, and family therapy. It also includes recognition of the need for the NDIS and mental health system to work closely to plan and coordinate support and to ensure smooth transitions between the systems.

Tell us whether you think these are reflective of what is happening on the ground by emailing Chelsea on Cmckinney@waamh.org.au

In response to fear mongering and misinformation about residents who absconded from the Disability Justice Centre on New Year's Eve, WAAMH recently joined with Developmental Disability WA to welcome the government’s decision to review the operations but not the existence or location of the centre. The mental health sector supports the centre as a community-based service and rejects calls for such services to be located on the grounds of prisons.

WAAMH has grave concerns for the mental health of people who are being detained indefinitely under this law. We continue to advocate for reform of the legislation to ensure Courts have options other than indefinite custody.

The current campaign to move the Disability Justice Centre from its current location in Bennet Brook risks condemning people with mental illness and disability to a lifetime in prison. This contravenes their rights.

Following long standing advocacy by people with a lived experience of mental illness or disability, families, carers and service providers, our community has called for law reform and community based services for many years.

The government needs to hear that there is strong community support for the centre in its current location.

Email the Premier and tell him that you support the Disability Justice Centre.

This email link contains important key messages to include in your email. These messages can also be accessed here.

For more information, read our most recent media release on this topic.

WAAMH has welcomed improvements made to the Western Australian Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Services Plan, released late last year and called on the government to demonstrate its commitment by announcing how it will resource the plan.

WAAMH president Alison Xamon said significant changes had been made following consultation on the draft plan, indicating that the government was genuine in its commitment to listen to feedback from consumers, families and services.

These changes contained amendments in the forensic services section of the plan, including removal of the reference to 92 additional beds forecast to be located on a prison site, and specific actions around the operation of the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act (CLMIA Act).

“WAAMH is relieved that future forensic services will be primarily developed within the mental health system and not in the prison system,” Ms Xamon said.

“Unfortunately the CLMIA Act still places people with a mental illness, intellectual or cognitive disability in indefinite detention without access to the courts or an independent advocate when they have not been convicted."

Read the full media release here.

Read more about WAAMH’s position on the Ten Year Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drugs Services Plan, here.

Read more about WAAMH's advocacy work on the CLMIA Act here.

In December last year, the Senate charged its committee with inquiring and reporting into indefinite detention of people with impairment in Australia. This follows long-standing advocacy by people with lived experience and the disability, mental health and legal sectors including our friends at the Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign.

The detailed Terms of Reference for the committee show the Senate is interested in a broad range of issues about indefinite detention.

Submissions close on 8 April 2016 and WAAMH will be providing submission. As with previous mentally impaired accused work, WAAMH can coordinate agencies that wish to contribute. If you would like to stay in touch about this issue, sign up to our criminal justice email list by emailing Chelsea on Cmckinney@waamh.org.au

A coalition of peak advocacy organisations are calling upon the Minister for Housing and the Premier to cease the proposed changes to public housing rent arrangements that would see its most disadvantaged tenants facing higher weekly rent.

People with Disabilities WA, Council of the Ageing WA, Carers WA and Consumers of Mental Health WA are calling for the Department of Housing to reverse the decision that will disadvantage public housing tenants with disabilities, mental illness and caring responsibilities.

The changes will see a wide range of Centrelink allowances and supplements previously not counted as assessable income being added to the total income used to set rent charges.  

For more information, contact People with Disabilities WA on info@pwdwa.org

A report on violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings has been released. This report finds serious concerns about the treatment of people with mental health issues in institutions across Australia and highlights concerns voiced by people and organisations in Western Australia. Click here to read the report.

CoMHWA received testimony from people with lived experience and their submission makes significant recommendations for change, many of which have been supported in the Senate Committee’s report including establishing a Royal Commission. Click here to read the submission.

This article by Leanne Dowse, University of New South Wales argues that the root cause of violence, neglect and abuse of people with disability begins with the de-valuing of their lives. It's time to fix the power dynamics that allowed the abuse of people with disability.

Mental Health Week in Western Australia will run from 9 - 15 October, 2016. More information will be available soon.

WAAMH is now on LinkedIn.

Follow and connect with us, here.

Registrations are now open for the annual Positive Schools Conference at the Rydges Hotel in Fremantle on May 26 and 27.

The program focusses on building relationships with cohesion, communication and community and is a must attend for all primary and secondary school teachers and professionals. This year's line-up features Ita Buttrose AO, OBE as host and guest speakers Maggie Dent and Helen Street, among other inspirational and vibrant experts.

For further information and to register, click here.

WAAMH is supporting Brain Ambulance's Mental Health Response Box - a first of its kind worldwide.

The Mental Health Response Box is a unique and effective offering, suitable for any workplace or school in Australia – don’t just tick the box on mental health – provide the box!

Part proceeds from the sale of every box will go to WAAMH to invest in future Mental Health Week awareness activities.

Price: WAAMH Members: $195.00 / Non-members: $250.00

Find out more or order at brainambulance.com.au

WAAMH members can order their discounted box here.