National Mental Health Ministers' Meeting

On 16 August, in Canberra, all the Nation's Mental Health Ministers will meet and this is a real opportunity for the Ministers to acknowledge, and commit to deal with, the huge gaps in community based psychosocial services across Australia.

In SA alone, the SA Health Unmet Needs Report for Psychosocial Support Services in SA showed us that 3 in 4 people who need community based services can't access them - that is 19,000 South Australians with significant mental health needs don’t have the support or services they need to stay well in the community.

Real action around this gap will also go a long way to resolving the hospital ramping crisis, the bed blockages, and the huge waiting lists in the SA Health mental health system.

Skylight Mental Health is fully behind the Mental Health Australia Statement of Priorities for Health and Mental Health Ministers Meeting, demands Ministers:

1. Agree to immediate public release of the national Analysis of unmet need for psychosocial support outside the NDIS and recommend to National Cabinet a co-funding agreement to fully address unmet need for psychosocial supports.
2. Commit to ongoing twice-yearly mental health minister meetings to discuss sector and reform priorities at an intergovernmental level, established as a governance function of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement (National Agreement).
3. Commit to a national accord to co-fund a system of supports bridging primary and acute care – to be:

a. human rights-based and person-centred and led;

b. co-produced by people with lived experience and their family, carers and supporters, and the broader mental health sector;

c. culturally safe, through a social and emotional wellbeing lens;

d. funded through the next National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA) to increase investment in community managed mental health services;

e. integrated and complementary to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS); and

f.? supported by appropriate data.

If you have the opportunity, raise these issues with your local State or Federal Members of Parliament.

Lack of access to community base psychosocial services is a Human Rights issue – not a Political one!

Mental Health Australia Mental Health Coalition of South Australia Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia Community Mental Health Australia