Victorian Royal Commission into Mental Health - By Clive
As you may or may not be aware, there is currently a royal commission into Mental Health in Victoria.
They are holding several community consultation sessions to allow people to attend and have there say both good and bad.
I attended a community consultation in Pakenham last week. There were about 50-60 people who attended. The range of people included individuals, representatives from local groups, also representation by headspace.
The people were across 8-9 tables with a commission representative on each table.
Each table disused the 4 questions raised by the commission which were;
Thinking about the Mental Health System
1, What works well?
2, What doesn’t work
3, What needs to be improved?
4, Is there anything else you would like to add?
Then 1 person from each table got to speak about what was discussed.
The commissioners listened and engaged with everyone.
They were taking notes on each table so they could review everything discussed at a later date.
It was an emotional meeting, with people from all walks of life with so many different stories.
If you get a chance to attend a community consultation, attend and raise your issues it’s the only way things will improve. If you can’t get to a consultation, you can make a submission online when they open it up. Personal submissions will have more impact, as they tell a personal story.
The following link takes you to a page with all community consultations listed.
https://rcvmhs.vic.gov.au/whats-happening-now
The only way things will change is if you stand up and have you say!
Clive with Penny Armytage - Chairperson at Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.