“Mental Health Care Patients In Victoria Mistreated”

Following on from last week’s theme of Mental Health Care and Queensland’s locked door policy” in Mental Health Care Units, this week’s blog discusses the mistreatment of patients within Victoria’s Mental Health Care facilities.

Mental Health Care Patients in Victoria have been subjected to compulsory and sometimes questionable treatments such as restraints, seclusion and induced comas, according to a Government Commissioned Report

The Victorian Government stand accused of trying to force changes to the independent report, by having Government Officials threatening the Report’s Author, Simon Katterl.

Mr. Katterl who has lived experience, was contracted by the Department of Health to provide advice to the mental health minister about the impact of compulsory mental health treatments on patients.

The report found that Victorians who had suffered "gross human rights violations" during mental health treatment against their will should be offered financial redress by the state with a full public apology from the government.

Some people who had a mental illness were subjected to compulsory treatment that included seclusion, restraint and coercive treatment including the use of induced comas.

The Report commissioned by the Department to provide advice to the Minister for Mental Health, has also called upon the State Government to set up a restorative justice process.

This process would allow consumers -former patients within the Mental Health System, and their carers, to publicly detail the trauma they have suffered as a result of this inappropriate treatment.

Mr Katterl has accused the Department of trying to force him to change his recommendations, something he has totally refused to do.

He said he was told he would not be considered for future work if he did not make changes to the recommendations. He said the department was particularly concerned about the restorative justice process.

The state government has distanced itself from the report.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he had not read the report and directed questions to Mental Health Minister Gabrielle Williams.

The report highlighted?how people with mental illness were also harmed by the system through police violence, and killings?and neglect by the community.

"On average, those within Victoria's mental health system may lose 30 years of life due to the medications they are forced to take. Some also die waiting for help. While detained, they may be sexually assaulted,'' the report said

"Families, carers and supporters have lost people they cared for or watched them further harmed in criminal justice systems.

"Some have spent a lifetime on the precipice of disaster while trying to keep someone they love alive and safe. Collectively, these harms represent gross human rights violations."

It made?six major recommendations to the state government including a political apology, a guarantee the harms will not be repeated, as well as redress for consumers and carers.

The Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC) and Tandem, which represents carers, were involved in shaping the report.

"This report signals the depth of pain that remains unresolved in our system, existentially affecting people with a lived experience as consumers and their family, carers and supporters,'' VMIAC chief executive Craig Wallace and Tandem chief executive Marie Piu said.

"The evidence behind these recommendations is strong, as is the moral case for them. These recommendations are both a challenge and an opportunity.

"They challenge the Victorian government, mental health services and practitioners to be curious about and confront the harms that arise from the system."

In recent years, state and federal governments have made a series of apologies to communities harmed by past policies including the Stolen Generations and children abused in state care.

"Any acknowledgement of harm must be built on a deep understanding of that harm, informed by those most impacted,'' the report said.

Mental Health Carers Australia [MHCA], a peak body, said the report should be considered by governments all around Australia, not just in Victoria.

"Public apologies following a restorative justice process will not mark an end-point, but rather a beginning point, for mental health reform."’

Shadow Mental Health Minister Emma Kealy said she was deeply concerned by the allegations.

"We need to make sure that everybody who suffered from any harm within Victoria's mental health system has their voice heard and is respected and recommendations are fully heard by the government," she said.

"A truth-telling process would help those with negative experiences of the system regain their trust in health workers and it would also help us plan for a future where restraint and seclusion are used less and less."