Consumer Forum: Share our Power

Monday 8th February 2021

The Consumer Forum brings together consumers from across Australia and New Zealand to share the power of our collective voices.

You will hear how those who went before us fought to improve the lives of people with personal experience of mental health issues. We will build alliances, strengthen our national voice, develop skills and grow our leadership.

By designing ‘Our Collective Voice’ we will develop a Declaration of the future to re-balance the system to meet our needs. The Declaration will be used to lead reform and change across Australia and New Zealand.

Join us and make sure your voice counts!

Youth Roundtable (COMPLIMENTARY SESSION)

Monday 8th February 2021 - Free online registration require

For some of our young people, their mental health services experience is the catalyst which inspires them to become an advocate for change.

The Youth Mental Health Roundtable is a forum for young people to share their lived experience and their advocacy journey with others.

It will be an hour-long facilitated event with a diverse range of young panellists who will present and answer questions from the audience. It is vital that we listen to and leverage off these stories and support the need for change.

We aim to ensure that Australian and New Zealand child, adolescent and youth mental health services are accessible and appropriate for all young people.

This Youth Roundtable is being organised by YACWA, COMWHA, and the Western Australian Youth Mental Health Sub Network.

TheMHS Awards (COMPLIMENTARY SESSION)

Monday 8th February 2021 - Free online registration require

TheMHS Awards have been recognising excellence, innovation and best practice in mental health for 29 years. Join us online as we celebrate 2020’s award winners with TheMHS Award’s Ambassador Professor Fiona Stanley AC and PJ Lane, with an address from The Honourable Greg Hunt MP, Federal Member for Flinders | Minister for Health.

Carer Forum: Families, Rights, and Relational Recovery in a Balanced System

Monday 8th February 2021

If a pandemic wasn’t enough, 2020 saw a Productivity Commission Inquiry and Report into Mental Health and a Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. Has a tipping point been reached? Will we finally see changes on the ground that families have long called for - changes that involve relationships, context, citizenship and structural reform?

If, as the UN Special Rapporteur Dainius Puras has declared, ‘Reductive biomedical approaches to treatment that do not adequately address contexts and relationships can no longer be considered compliant with the right to health’, what does this mean for families?

This forum will explore what some of these changes and approaches might look like for families and carers. Approaches that address context and relationships, such as Relational Recovery, Recovery Colleges and other innovative and contemporary family-led initiatives. We will explore the implications of the Productivity Commission Report and Vision 2030 – and find some time for connection, renewal, and inspiration.

Global Mental Health Responses to the Pandemic and Beyond

(COMPLIMENTARY SESSION)

Monday 8th February 2021 - Free online registration require

The pandemic of 2020 has highlighted increasing mental health issues in countries across the globe. Some nations have recognised the need for increased mental health services and have the resources to provide for increased services. Some have not.

Most countries recognise the ongoing physical health issues associated with COVID-19. However, there are also ongoing mental health issues flowing from the isolation, the anxiety, the fear and reluctance to seek help during the pandemic.

Australia and New Zealand have managed the pandemic (and ongoing outbreaks) well and have recognised and made extra provision for mental health of their citizens. But what do we know about other countries and their responses to the mental health of their citizens during and after the pandemic?
In this symposium international and local experts, will provide an overview of what is happening globally and what the path ahead could be, in terms of mental health responses to the pandemic.