Showcasing and celebrating the work happening across the mental health sector is vital to recognising impact, sharing learning, and inspiring continued innovation. Through our latest interview series, we reconnect with past TheMHS Awards winners to hear their experiences, insights, and reflections on what the recognition has meant for their work. Their stories offer valuable inspiration and practical advice for anyone considering applying.
This week, we interviewed Julie Millard AM, the 2023 Exceptional Contribution Award winner and TheMHS Ambassador, to ask for her insights on the sector as well as the impact of her work.
If you could redesign one aspect of the mental health system overnight, what would it be and why?
If I could redesign the system overnight, I would replace the clinical medical model with a rights-based social model of wellbeing. This means moving beyond diagnosis to addressing the social determinants of health, like housing, safety, and community connection through integrated, wraparound services. We need a society that values and supports wellbeing for all, so that we may all thrive together.
As unique individuals, we have personal preferences based on our culture, history, families, safety needs, sexuality, age, gender, and communities. It is important for people to speak for themselves, to be heard, and to be listened to; we must value human rights, share knowledge, and build individual and group capacity while ensuring all services are culturally safe and inclusive. I believe we require integrated social and emotional wellbeing frameworks and services that are respectful, flexible, and protective of human rights. Australia needs well-funded, and voluntary, accessible community-based social service ecosystems and lived experience-led services, where neighbours care for one another.
Australia is a signatory to several international instruments, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) 2006 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. We should strive to abide by these. More recently, we have seen the World Health Organization’s Guidance on Community Mental Health Services 2021 and, for the Pacific region, the Regional Framework for the Future of Mental Health in the Western Pacific 2023–2030.
As a global community, it is essential that we support one another and recognise the strength of individuals, communities, and nations. We must protect cultural diversity, boost mental health knowledge and wellbeing, improve individual health outcomes, and ensure that quality mental health care services are available whenever and wherever people need them.
Was there a turning point in your career when you realised your work was creating a real systemic change?
For me, there was not a single, isolated moment, but rather a gradual awakening shaped by the various perspectives throughout my career. My professional journey has spanned roles as a hospital and community mental health nurse, looking into boarding houses, running a community centre, and working for a community-managed organisation to establish mental health services in rural NSW. These experiences, alongside my work in education, training and as a consultant, have broadened my knowledge base and deepened my understanding of mental health. Furthermore, having significant mentors with lived experience ensures my thinking and practice remains contemporary, grounded, and person-centred.
My experiences volunteering at an international level are also a catalyst. It allowed me to see that while different cultures have unique approaches, people globally often face the same fundamental challenges when navigating complex health care systems or absence of services. I have learned that systemic advocacy is rarely a solo venture. Real, lasting change requires time, persistent passion, and a commitment to working alongside others. Whether through targeted initiatives or international collaboration, our impact is greatest when we amplify each other’s voices. To use my own analogy – we are the tugboats working together to steer the ship in the right direction, whilst always checking to ensure we don’t become grounded. Recognising that systemic change happens through collective effort, rather than individual achievement alone, has been a major turning point in my work.
