Unfortunately, the recently announced commonwealth and state budgets made no progress in refocussing the investment of mental health resources into prevention and community services. The commonwealth budget included the disappointing news that the federal government would not be extending its contribution to the National Partnership Agreement for Mental Health Reform and, while the state budget provided reasonable funding for public bed based and treatment services over the four year estimates, there was minimal growth in funding for prevention and community services. 

WAAMH will be focussing its attention in the lead up to the state election on what the parties contesting the election will be doing to get the Ten Year Mental Health Services Plan on track.

On a brighter note, I am thrilled to announce the theme for WA's 2016 Mental Health Week as Act-Belong-Commit with a focus on suicide prevention. 

WAAMH has now relocated offices to 1 Nash St Perth, with the Mental Health Commission, the Drug and Alcohol Office and WANADA, and are enjoying working in close quarters with our friends in the mental health and alcohol and other drugs sectors.

Rod Astbury
Chief Executive Officer
WA Association for Mental Health

WAAMH believes the Ten Year Mental Health Services Plan has been derailed by savage cuts to the most under-resourced segment of the WA’s mental health system following the
release of the state budget this week.

The ten-year plan identified that WA spent too high a proportion of its mental health expenditure on hospital based services and committed to shifting the priority to prevention and keeping people connected and closer to home. Community support services were identified as the most under-resourced segment of WA’s mental health system, with just 20 percent of demand for these services being met in 2014.

But Thursday’s state budget detailed a $6 million cut to community support services in 2016/2017 and just 2.7%($2.7m) growth in community bed based and support services over the forward estimates. Acute bed based and community treatment funding will increase by 6.7% over the same period.

The ten-year plan was developed in broad consultation with mental health stakeholders and has strong support. In the lead up to the state election in 2017, WAAMH will be asking the parties contesting the election what they will be doing to get the plan on track.

To read WAAMH's full media release on this, click here. 

WAAMH is thrilled to announce Act, Belong Commit as the theme for this year's Mental Health Week.

We will be partnering once again with Mentally Healthy WA to encourage the community to take action to protect and promote their own mental wellbeing through being active, and having a sense of belonging and purpose in life.

In line with the Act-Belong-Commit message, this year’s Mental Health Week will also focus on suicide prevention, through the promotion of personal resilience and other protective factors.

Please click here to read our full media release on the 2016 Mental Health Week theme. 

This year's Mental Health Week will be held from 9 - 16 October. Click here to read more about the events and activities planned or to sponsor the week.

Resulting from a successful Outcome Measurement - Let's Practice Workshop, WAAMH along with the Mental Health Commission, Consumers of Mental Health WA and Mental Health Matters 2, have produced A Guide for Measuring Mental Health Outcomes in Western Australian Community Managed Organisations.

The guidelines promote personalised and recovery-based approaches to outcome measurement, aligned with the needs of individuals and their families. Stories from Ruah, Vincentcare, St. Patricks, 55 Central and MIFWA helped to shape the measurement guidelines. You can access the Guide from the WAAMH website, here.

WAAMH has launched a 'new-look' blog this month. Please see our Community of Practice blogs on this new platform here. 

From 1 October 2016, the WA NDIS MY Way will be expanded to include Armadale, Murray and Serpentine-Jarrahdale. The NDIS scheme in the Perth hills area will also be expanded to include Bayswater, Bassendean, Chittering, Toodyay, York and Northam from 1 January 2017. The original trial sites have been extended to July 2017.

WA has still not agreed on a deal with the Commonwealth for a full State-wide roll-out, but a new target date for this has been set for October 2016, with the rollout expected to start on 1 July 2017. Read more here.

With the $22 billion NDIS about to be rolled out Australia-wide, a free tool allowing people to rate disability service providers has been launched.

CareNavigator.com.au was created by Michael Stevenson, who described the website as a TripAdvisor for the NDIS. There are currently 103 providers on the WA segment of the website, read more here.

The Summer Foundation initiated an Expression of Interest (EOI) on Social Investment for People with Disability in September 2015. The aim was to inform the Summer Foundation’s decisions on financing its next housing demonstration projects, and to inform and shape government policy and funding related to housing for people with disability.

Addressing the large housing shortage for people with disability in the NDIS will depend on the ability of housing providers to access significant amounts of capital from the private financial market. The Summer Foundation has been engaging with private financial institutions to determine how different NDIS housing payment structures would impact on a housing provider’s ability to access finance to build more units of housing.

The Summer Foundation's paper from March this year builds on their September 2015 report, Housing Young People in Nursing Homes: A report from a social finance think tank.

The NDIS ILC Building Commissioning Framework Consultation Draft outlines how a policy framework would work and captures feedback from consultations carried out by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) in 2015.

The document starts with the five activity streams outlined in the policy framework, and sets out what outcomes are expected from those activities, and how those activities will be funded and delivered. Some aspects of the policy framework are still under development and the NDIA are currently seeking feedback on these areas.

The Consultation Draft can be accessed from the NDIA website here.  

The NDIA is in the process of developing a series of Market Position Statements (MPS) to inform market stakeholders, and help current and prospective providers of supports and services, prepare for opportunities that will be created by the NDIS in the coming years. 

The statements include information at a state level as well as more specific insights to selected local markets. The MPS for New South Wales and Victoria are available from the NDIA website. Although these statements are not specific to Western Australia, they provide information that organisations may find useful in making strategic decisions about their business.

A new website will help traumatised refugee men overcome the stigma associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and encourage them to seek help. The Tell Your Story website was developed following research that found the prevalence of PTSD in refugees was five times higher than the general population in Australia. The twelve-session online program, available in Arabic, Farsi and Tamil, features video stories of refugee men who successfully sought support for PTSD.

The initiative is a partnership between the Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program (RTRP) led by Dr Angela Nickerson at University of New South Wales (UNSW)'s School of Psychology, Settlement Services International (SSI) and the Black Dog Institute. Read here for more information. 

An excerpt from 'My Journey of Recovery' featured blog by Sandra Steingard, 17 April 2016

"Let me be clear: I was never anti-recovery. I will admit, however, that when the recovery movement first came to my attention in the 1990s, I was not drawn in. Whenever I attended a presentation on the topic, rather than being able to listen openly to the speaker, I felt defensive. At the time, I was working in a state that was pushing hard to close its state psychiatric hospital. While the mantra was of recovery, it seemed to be promoted by fiat. Since people were expected to recover, therefore, we did not need a state hospital." To read more, click here. 

Are you a coordinator who recruits, trains and supervises volunteers, delivering companionship or mentoring to vulnerable client groups? Or would you like to set up a befriending/mentoring program, providing transformational relationships? 

Trained in a best practice, nationally recognised, accredited standard of Befriending and Mentoring, Claire Lawrie can help you consolidate current practice or set up a program, reach your client group and connect them to a sense of belonging and purpose.

To connect with Claire visit www.clairelawrieconsulting.com.au, email: admin@clairelawrieconsulting.com.au or call 0499 045 211.

WAAMH acknowledged the long awaited review report of the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act 1996 (CLMIA Act) released by the state government in April, but remained concerned that most of the significant human rights abuses were not addressed. Of five sector-agreed top priorities, only 3 were tackled.

Please see WAAMH's media statement on this here. CLMIA advocacy remains a top priority for WAAMH and our partners in the lead up to the state election.

Did you know that our government detains people with mental illness in our prisons and hospitals without a release or review date? WA’s CLMIA law fails to meet human rights standards and contributes to worse mental health.

A federal Senate Inquiry will bring national attention to this important issue.  Read WAAMH’s submission, which outlines how this problem could be addressed, here. 

In 2015, WAAMH made a submission to the Review of the NDIS Act and Rules. We called for ending the requirement for a permanent disability, improvements to enable people with mental health issues to access the scheme, and an increased focus on recovery.

The review report has now been released, and we are disappointed to see that it has not effectively addressed the concerns of disability advocates. An analysis of the review report against WAAMH’s submission can be found here.

WAAMH will bring you more analysis when the government releases a response indicating which of the review’s recommendations it will progress.

The Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission has released a guide for charity board and committee members to assist in deciding what advocacy and campaigning they can undertake and what should be avoided. 

In the lead up to the election, WAAMH members may want to make their voices heard in the political arena. Charities can campaign on political issues to advance their charitable purposes, including during election periods, as long as they meet the requirements of charity law and other relevant legislation. To read the guide, click here. 

You are invited to be part of the action and sponsor Mental Health Week in 2016. Join the below sponsors who have already come on-board:

• Gold - Black Swan Health
• Silver - HelpingMinds and MercyCare
• Bronze - Rise Network, Mission Australia, Southern Cross Care (WA) and St Bartholomew's House
• Better thank OK: Parenting Forum - Anglicare WA
• Arts and Mental Health Network Arts Exhibition - Southern Cross Care (WA)
• Workplace Wellness Sessions - The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists

Mental Health Week is a national and annual event, and engages with around 15,000 people in WA. Our exciting schedule of events, materials and activities during Mental Health Week provides sponsors with an opportunity to promote their products, services and brand through cause-related marketing to a large portion of the WA community. To find out more, click here. 

Peer support for residents of psychiatric hostels within the Perth hills NDIS trial site to engage with the program, is now underway. The project is based on the premise that a peer with a lived experience of recovery is best placed to assist people with a psycho-social disability understand and access recovery orientated services. The peers recruited will support people and their families to access information about the NDIS, the planning process and implementation of their plan. 

Free workshops for the Perth hills hostel residents are now being held:

• Date: Every Monday (except for public holidays)
• Time: Bus pick up from each hostel around 10.30am.
• Location: Crooked Spire Crooked Spire Cafe, 71 Victoria Street, Midland.
• Lunch and transport to the venue is included. 

If you require further information about these workshops, contact Coralie Flatters on (08) 6246 3010 or email cflatters@waamh.org.au

Peer workers are a valuable and evolving workforce in the mental health sector, creating unique opportunities for human resource management, supervision and relationships.

The 'Effective Supervision for Peer Workers' accessible course explores appropriate structures and safety nets to support your peer workforce and ensure positions are viable and successful. The course emphasises a partnership approach, that allows for reflection on working practices and relationships, which are key ingredients for success.

Register here

• Date: 14 June 2016
• Time: 9am - 4.30pm
• Location: Workzone Building, 1 Nash Street, Perth

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