Lived Experience Leadership: At the forefront of Lived Experience led research into Lived Experience Workforce development

By Lived Experience Leadership         [Resource]

‘Lived Experience Leadership features the findings of 12 years of research studies focused on this workforce in a range of settings, to foster a better of understanding and respect for Lived Experience as a distinct discipline and build clarity on what makes this work unique and valuable. Importantly, this body of research was led by Lived Experience researchers.’

Key Content Areas:

• definitions
• professional development and training
• organisational commitment
• challenges and benefits
• workplace culture
• inclusion and diversity
• human resources and policies
• key work by Australian and International sources

Lived Experience Leadership provides clear and simple to read research summaries to allow community members and people employed within various industries the opportunity to easily understand and apply strategies within their own workplace. This website also includes easy to download definitions, audio/visual resources, and features key work by other Australian and International sources. The website will continue to grow to include larger collections of our research as well as other key work.

Co-production: Putting principles into practice in mental health contexts

By Cath Roper, Flick Grey & Emma Cadogan          [Download Resource]

‘This resource seeks to explain what co-production is, how it is important, how it is different to other participatory approaches, and specific considerations for mental health and similar contexts in which extreme power differentials are likely to have been experienced by co-production partners. It offers advice on establishing the culture and mindsets from which co-production can take place. It is a resource that we hope will influence approaches to mental health work, policy development, and consumer participation’

Key Content Areas:

• What is co-production?
• Co-production: core principles
• Power
• Bringing co-production partners together
• Co-production in practice – case studies

“The most important part of co-production is shifting mindsets and establishing a culture that embraces exploration and learning, and genuinely values consumer knowledge and expertise      …      Non-consumer partners may need support to position themselves as learners and consumer partners may need support to position themselves as leaders within co-production groups.”

NGO Mental Health Lived Experience Workforce Standards and Guidelines Self Assessment Tool

By The Lived Experience Workforce Project (LEWP), Mental Health Coalition of South Australia          [Download Resource]

‘The NGO Mental Health Lived Experience Workforce Standards and Guidelines are intended to assist organisations that employ staff as mental health Lived Experience Workers. These Standards and Guidelines offer a self assessment template to measure how your NGO is tracking in a successful and powerful implementation and ongoing support of your Lived Experience Workforce.

There are six Standards with associated Guidelines. Each Standard has defined elements and suggested evidence for meeting the criteria for that element. These can be added to by the NGO if there is additional evidence of meeting the Standard or element.

The template is intended as a self assessment. Once the initial assessment is completed, an Action Plan should be developed to address any gaps. NGOs can elect to assess against all Standards and then develop one plan to address gaps, or they may elect to address one Standard at a time’

Key Content Areas:

• Standard One – Mental Health Lived Experience Workers are a valuable workforce element of mental health services.
• Standard Two – A safe and healthy workplace that explicitly takes the needs of Lived Experience Workforce into account, benefits the organisation.
• Standard Three – Wellbeing of Lived Experience staff from diverse groups is intentionally promoted through organisational culture, leadership and policies and procedures.
• Standard Four – Personal information about a Lived Experience Worker’s health status is confidential.
• Standard Five – Support mechanisms are in place within the culture of the organisation to ensure Lived Experience staff are supported to work to the best of their capacity.
• Standard Six – All relevant staff, including management, receive appropriate training and supervision.

 This Standards and Guidelines document uses language that has current relevance and meaning to mental health services. However, as LEW members who have co-designed this document, we want to ensure that we also respect our unique mental health experiences, life experiences, individual skills and strengths. These are the key elements that make the LEW as rich, diverse, valuable and effective as it is. 

There is no single perfect, wholly embraced word to encapsulate this. Preferences are as unique as each of us. We simply ask that as you refer to us as consumers or carers, you also think of us as ‘people’.

The Long Wait: An Analysis of Mental Health Presentations to Australian Emergency Departments

By Australasian College for Emergency Medicine          [Download Resource]

‘Emergency departments often act as the ‘front door’ to the health system, playing a unique role in the provision of safe, high quality acute medical care to everyone in the community. Each year, more than a quarter of a million Australians present to EDs seeking help for acute mental and behavioural conditions. Yet for many of these patients, the evidence suggests that EDs are not adequately fulfilling their role as a timely and accessible entry point to the mental health system. …

While there is much that can be done to improve the experiences of people who present to EDs with mental health crises, it is also essential that system responses beyond the ED are improved. More needs to be done in the community to avoid the types of crises that precipitate a visit to the ED, and more appropriate, timely treatment options are needed to minimise the time that people with mental health presentations spend in the ED’

Key Content Areas:

• Pathways to mental health care
• Arrival mode to ED and urgency of emergency
• Urgency
• Waiting time until commencement of clinical care and duration of clinical care
• Episode end status
• Presentation characteristics

“ED is a difficult environment for all patients… It is crowded, noisy and confusing. The lights are on 24 hours a day. There are babies crying, monitors beeping, staff and patients moving about, phones ringing – constantly. ED clinicians have multiple competing demands and cubicles lack privacy. It can be difficult to understand what is going on… For patients with acute mental health issues, especially when they are in a state of high arousal, these factors are compounded… patients are often paranoid, confused or suicidal. They need a calm and private environment, with a clear plan and good communication. When patients are delayed in ED for long periods, they sometimes become angry and upset to the point where they require chemical sedation for their own safety, and the safety of other patients and staff in the ED. Chemical sedation carries risk – side effects and cardiorespiratory depression – there have been deaths from chemical sedation in ED… The biggest problem with this is that it is not fair on patients – our environment and processes get them to this point – this is not acceptable and we need to change the system.”

(FACEM)

Podcast: No Feeling is Final

By Honor Eastly          [Download Resource]

‘Usually when we talk about suicide we say those four magic words: “just ask for help”. But Honor Eastly knows it’s not that simple. She’s been there and back, and now has years of phone recordings and diary entries, from the inside.

These recordings form the basis of this podcast, No Feeling Is Final.

This is a show for anyone who’s ever wondered if life is worth living. And for anyone trying to better understand their friend, partner or kid, who’s wrestled with these feelings themselves. At times heartbreaking, and desperate – but also darkly funny, and charming, No Feeling Is Final is a story of difference, identity, and why we should stay alive

Just a heads up, this show touches on some heavy lifting feelings territory — including what’s it’s like to feel so hopeless that you want to die. It’s not graphic — it’s not that kind of show. But there is some swearing.

Also — this is a memoir show. It’s about Honor’s experience trying to figure out some big stuff. So of course, it’s only one person’s story’

Key Content Areas:

• The Voice
• The Vast Wasteland
• A Good Patient
• 60,000 thoughts
• Emotionally Deluxe
• Now is the time for cake

“Hunting for a psychiatrist is a lot like hunting for ‘The One’. Only much more expensive and with a tiny dating pool.”

Mental Illness and Suicide Prevention: Position statement

By Suicide Prevention Australia          [Download Resource]

‘This position statement represents the public position of Suicide Prevention Australia and is used to inform the ways in which Suicide Prevention Australia engages with stakeholders. The statement provides recommendations to guide future investments in addressing issues relating to mental health, mental illness and suicide prevention, as well as a background resource describing the key issues involved in mental illness and suicide.

The position statement and background are specific to the issue of mental illness and suicide. It does not discuss the general issues of suicide and suicide prevention, nor address risk factors experienced by other cohorts deemed to be at an increased risk of suicide such as LGBTI or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, except where the risk factors experienced by these communities also intersect with risk factors for those experiencing mental illness’

Key Content Areas:

• The prevalence of mental illness in Australia
• Mental illness and mortality
• Why are people with mental illness at increased risk of suicide?
• Stigma of mental illness and suicide
• Access to effective services and treatments
• Assessing suicide risk
• Suicide bereavement
• What works to prevent suicide for people with mental illness?
• Social networks and caregiving
• Federal, State and Territory Government policy implications

“A lot of people think that having a mental illness or feeling like [dying by] suicide or even attempting suicide, that it’s a weakness. And my long-term experience is that it is quite the reverse – that to continue to survive, to continue to live with that much pain, especially if you don’t have help and adequate support, it takes an enormous amount of strength”

[Lessons for Life participant, Glenda, 50 years old SANE Australia, 2015].

#chatsafe A young person’s guide for communicating safely online about suicide

By Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health         [Download Resource]

‘Many countries, including Australia, have developed media guidelines for safe reporting of suicide. These guidelines target media professionals and have been largely focused on traditional forms of news and print media, rather than the internet and social media. However, young people increasingly use social media platforms to discuss suicide in a number of ways. Strategies focused on involvement of professionals and on traditional forms of media are therefore less likely to be helpful for young people.

To date, there is a lack of evidence about safe and helpful online peer-to-peer communication about suicide, and there is little guidance available to help young people safely discuss suicide online. The aim of this project was to develop a set of evidence-informed guidelines that could help young people to communicate safely online about suicide’

Key Content Areas:

• Before you post anything online about suicide
• Sharing your own thoughts, feelings or experience with suicidal behaviour online
• Communicating about someone you know who is affected by suicidal thoughts, feelings or behaviours
• Responding to someone who may be suicidal
• Memorial websites, pages and closed groups to honour the deceased.

Research has shown that there is no evidence that asking about suicide increases the likelihood of a person engaging in suicidal behaviour. If you are worried or concerned that someone might be experiencing suicidal thoughts, feelings or behaviour, here are some questions that you could ask:

• “Are you thinking of suicide?”

• “Do you feel suicidal?”

• “Are you thinking of ending your life?”

Review of key attributes of high-performing person-centred healthcare organisations

By Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care          [Download Resource]

‘The purpose of the review was to identify and understand the key attributes that enable a healthcare organisation to deliver high-quality person-centred care. It was designed to produce focused, practical and action-orientated information.

The review complements the NSQHS Standards. It aims to provide practical information to assist healthcare organisations to identify action that may help them meet the requirements of the NSQHS Standards, and move towards high performance in person-centred care’

Key Content Areas:

• The context and rationale for person-centred care
• Understanding the ideal person-centred patient journey
• Key attributes of high-performing person-centred healthcare organisations
• Person-centred care and the NSQHS Standards
• Case Studies

The patient’s journey, as well as their experience of care, is influenced by both the way they are treated as a person and by the way they are treated for their condition. Both are important but they are delivered differently … Quality and safety outcomes of care are largely guided by structures and processes, but it is how they are implemented by individuals that determine the patient experience and outcome.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

By UN Special Rapporteur, Dainius Pūras          [Download Resource]

‘In an attempt to contribute to the discussion around mental health as a global health priority, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the right of everyone to mental health and some of the core challenges and opportunities, urging that the promotion of mental health be addressed for all ages in all settings. He calls for a shift in the paradigm, based on the recurrence of human rights violations in mental health settings, all too often affecting persons with intellectual, cognitive and psychosocial disabilities’

Key Content Areas:

• Context
• Global burden of obstacles – Dominance of the biomedical model, Power asymmetries, Biased use of evidence in mental health
• Right to mental health framework
• Shifting the paradigm

Rights-based care and support for mental health is an integral part of health care for all      …      An assessment of the global burden of obstacles alarmingly suggests their burden may be heavier than any burden of “mental disorders”. The crisis in mental health should be managed not as a crisis of individual conditions, but as a crisis of social obstacles which hinders individual rights. Mental health policies should address the “power imbalance” rather than “chemical imbalance”

Equally Well Consensus Statement: Improving the physical health and wellbeing of people living with mental illness in Australia

By National Mental Health Commission          [Download Resource]

‘In an attempt to contribute to the discussion around mental health as a global health priority, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the right of everyone to mental health and some of the core challenges and opportunities, urging that the promotion of mental health be addressed for all ages in all settings. He calls for a shift in the paradigm, based on the recurrence of human rights violations in mental health settings, all too often affecting persons with intellectual, cognitive and psychosocial disabilities’

Key Content Areas:

• Context
• Global burden of obstacles – Dominance of the biomedical model, Power asymmetries, Biased use of evidence in mental health
• Right to mental health framework
• Shifting the paradigm

Rights-based care and support for mental health is an integral part of health care for all      …      An assessment of the global burden of obstacles alarmingly suggests their burden may be heavier than any burden of “mental disorders”. The crisis in mental health should be managed not as a crisis of individual conditions, but as a crisis of social obstacles which hinders individual rights. Mental health policies should address the “power imbalance” rather than “chemical imbalance”

Revisiting the Rationale and Evidence for Peer Support

By Larry Davidson, PhD, Chyrell Bellamy, MSW, PhD, Mathew Chinman, PhD, Marianne Farkas, ScD, Laysha Ostrow, PhD, Judith A. Cook, PhD, Jessica A. Jonikas, MA, Harvey Rosenthal, Sue Bergeson, Allen S. Daniels, EdD & Mark Salzer, PhD    [Download Resource]

‘To date, over multiple studies have found that peer staff who are working in peer-specific roles are better able to engage people in caring relationships; improve relationships between clients and outpatient providers, thus increasing engagement in non-acute and less costly care; decrease substance use, unmet needs, and demoralization; and increase hope, empowerment, self-efficacy, social functioning, quality of and satisfaction with life, and activation for self-care’

Key Content Areas:

• Rationale for peer support
• The evidence for peer support
• Patient-care outcomes

Why would these kinds of gains not be worthy of funding? Presumably because they have yet to be connected directly to reductions in the negative outcomes of arrest, incarceration, and violence. But these poor outcomes are more reflective of societal and systemic failures than of mental illness per se. They are due primarily to long-standing discrimination that has resulted in a lack of parity in funding for community-based mental health care.

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards user guide for measuring and evaluating partnering with consumers

By Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care           [Download Resource]

‘To date, over multiple studies have found that peer staff who are working in peer-specific roles are better able to engage people in caring relationships; improve relationships between clients and outpatient providers, thus increasing engagement in non-acute and less costly care; decrease substance use, unmet needs, and demoralization; and increase hope, empowerment, self-efficacy, social functioning, quality of and satisfaction with life, and activation for self-care’

Key Content Areas:

• Rationale for peer support
• The evidence for peer support
• Patient-care outcomes

Why would these kinds of gains not be worthy of funding? Presumably because they have yet to be connected directly to reductions in the negative outcomes of arrest, incarceration, and violence. But these poor outcomes are more reflective of societal and systemic failures than of mental illness per se. They are due primarily to long-standing discrimination that has resulted in a lack of parity in funding for community-based mental health care.

Lived Experience Leadership: At the forefront of Lived Experience led research into Lived Experience Workforce development

By Lived Experience Leadership         [Resource]

‘Lived Experience Leadership features the findings of 12 years of research studies focused on this workforce in a range of settings, to foster a better of understanding and respect for Lived Experience as a distinct discipline and build clarity on what makes this work unique and valuable. Importantly, this body of research was led by Lived Experience researchers.’

Key Content Areas:

• definitions
• professional development and training
• organisational commitment
• challenges and benefits
• workplace culture
• inclusion and diversity
• human resources and policies
• key work by Australian and International sources

Lived Experience Leadership provides clear and simple to read research summaries to allow community members and people employed within various industries the opportunity to easily understand and apply strategies within their own workplace. This website also includes easy to download definitions, audio/visual resources, and features key work by other Australian and International sources. The website will continue to grow to include larger collections of our research as well as other key work.

Co-production: Putting principles into practice in mental health contexts

By Cath Roper, Flick Grey & Emma Cadogan          [Download Resource]

‘This resource seeks to explain what co-production is, how it is important, how it is different to other participatory approaches, and specific considerations for mental health and similar contexts in which extreme power differentials are likely to have been experienced by co-production partners. It offers advice on establishing the culture and mindsets from which co-production can take place. It is a resource that we hope will influence approaches to mental health work, policy development, and consumer participation’

Key Content Areas:

• What is co-production?
• Co-production: core principles
• Power
• Bringing co-production partners together
• Co-production in practice – case studies

“The most important part of co-production is shifting mindsets and establishing a culture that embraces exploration and learning, and genuinely values consumer knowledge and expertise      …      Non-consumer partners may need support to position themselves as learners and consumer partners may need support to position themselves as leaders within co-production groups.”

NGO Mental Health Lived Experience Workforce Standards and Guidelines Self Assessment Tool

By The Lived Experience Workforce Project (LEWP), Mental Health Coalition of South Australia          [Download Resource]

‘The NGO Mental Health Lived Experience Workforce Standards and Guidelines are intended to assist organisations that employ staff as mental health Lived Experience Workers. These Standards and Guidelines offer a self assessment template to measure how your NGO is tracking in a successful and powerful implementation and ongoing support of your Lived Experience Workforce.

There are six Standards with associated Guidelines. Each Standard has defined elements and suggested evidence for meeting the criteria for that element. These can be added to by the NGO if there is additional evidence of meeting the Standard or element.

The template is intended as a self assessment. Once the initial assessment is completed, an Action Plan should be developed to address any gaps. NGOs can elect to assess against all Standards and then develop one plan to address gaps, or they may elect to address one Standard at a time’

Key Content Areas:

• Standard One – Mental Health Lived Experience Workers are a valuable workforce element of mental health services.
• Standard Two – A safe and healthy workplace that explicitly takes the needs of Lived Experience Workforce into account, benefits the organisation.
• Standard Three – Wellbeing of Lived Experience staff from diverse groups is intentionally promoted through organisational culture, leadership and policies and procedures.
• Standard Four – Personal information about a Lived Experience Worker’s health status is confidential.
• Standard Five – Support mechanisms are in place within the culture of the organisation to ensure Lived Experience staff are supported to work to the best of their capacity.
• Standard Six – All relevant staff, including management, receive appropriate training and supervision.

 This Standards and Guidelines document uses language that has current relevance and meaning to mental health services. However, as LEW members who have co-designed this document, we want to ensure that we also respect our unique mental health experiences, life experiences, individual skills and strengths. These are the key elements that make the LEW as rich, diverse, valuable and effective as it is. 

There is no single perfect, wholly embraced word to encapsulate this. Preferences are as unique as each of us. We simply ask that as you refer to us as consumers or carers, you also think of us as ‘people’.

The Long Wait: An Analysis of Mental Health Presentations to Australian Emergency Departments

By Australasian College for Emergency Medicine          [Download Resource]

‘Emergency departments often act as the ‘front door’ to the health system, playing a unique role in the provision of safe, high quality acute medical care to everyone in the community. Each year, more than a quarter of a million Australians present to EDs seeking help for acute mental and behavioural conditions. Yet for many of these patients, the evidence suggests that EDs are not adequately fulfilling their role as a timely and accessible entry point to the mental health system. …

While there is much that can be done to improve the experiences of people who present to EDs with mental health crises, it is also essential that system responses beyond the ED are improved. More needs to be done in the community to avoid the types of crises that precipitate a visit to the ED, and more appropriate, timely treatment options are needed to minimise the time that people with mental health presentations spend in the ED’

Key Content Areas:

• Pathways to mental health care
• Arrival mode to ED and urgency of emergency
• Urgency
• Waiting time until commencement of clinical care and duration of clinical care
• Episode end status
• Presentation characteristics

“ED is a difficult environment for all patients… It is crowded, noisy and confusing. The lights are on 24 hours a day. There are babies crying, monitors beeping, staff and patients moving about, phones ringing – constantly. ED clinicians have multiple competing demands and cubicles lack privacy. It can be difficult to understand what is going on… For patients with acute mental health issues, especially when they are in a state of high arousal, these factors are compounded… patients are often paranoid, confused or suicidal. They need a calm and private environment, with a clear plan and good communication. When patients are delayed in ED for long periods, they sometimes become angry and upset to the point where they require chemical sedation for their own safety, and the safety of other patients and staff in the ED. Chemical sedation carries risk – side effects and cardiorespiratory depression – there have been deaths from chemical sedation in ED… The biggest problem with this is that it is not fair on patients – our environment and processes get them to this point – this is not acceptable and we need to change the system.”

(FACEM)

Podcast: No Feeling is Final

By Honor Eastly          [Download Resource]

‘Usually when we talk about suicide we say those four magic words: “just ask for help”. But Honor Eastly knows it’s not that simple. She’s been there and back, and now has years of phone recordings and diary entries, from the inside.

These recordings form the basis of this podcast, No Feeling Is Final.

This is a show for anyone who’s ever wondered if life is worth living. And for anyone trying to better understand their friend, partner or kid, who’s wrestled with these feelings themselves. At times heartbreaking, and desperate – but also darkly funny, and charming, No Feeling Is Final is a story of difference, identity, and why we should stay alive

Just a heads up, this show touches on some heavy lifting feelings territory — including what’s it’s like to feel so hopeless that you want to die. It’s not graphic — it’s not that kind of show. But there is some swearing.

Also — this is a memoir show. It’s about Honor’s experience trying to figure out some big stuff. So of course, it’s only one person’s story’

Key Content Areas:

• The Voice
• The Vast Wasteland
• A Good Patient
• 60,000 thoughts
• Emotionally Deluxe
• Now is the time for cake

“Hunting for a psychiatrist is a lot like hunting for ‘The One’. Only much more expensive and with a tiny dating pool.”

Mental Illness and Suicide Prevention: Position statement

By Suicide Prevention Australia          [Download Resource]

‘This position statement represents the public position of Suicide Prevention Australia and is used to inform the ways in which Suicide Prevention Australia engages with stakeholders. The statement provides recommendations to guide future investments in addressing issues relating to mental health, mental illness and suicide prevention, as well as a background resource describing the key issues involved in mental illness and suicide.

The position statement and background are specific to the issue of mental illness and suicide. It does not discuss the general issues of suicide and suicide prevention, nor address risk factors experienced by other cohorts deemed to be at an increased risk of suicide such as LGBTI or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, except where the risk factors experienced by these communities also intersect with risk factors for those experiencing mental illness’

Key Content Areas:

• The prevalence of mental illness in Australia
• Mental illness and mortality
• Why are people with mental illness at increased risk of suicide?
• Stigma of mental illness and suicide
• Access to effective services and treatments
• Assessing suicide risk
• Suicide bereavement
• What works to prevent suicide for people with mental illness?
• Social networks and caregiving
• Federal, State and Territory Government policy implications

“A lot of people think that having a mental illness or feeling like [dying by] suicide or even attempting suicide, that it’s a weakness. And my long-term experience is that it is quite the reverse – that to continue to survive, to continue to live with that much pain, especially if you don’t have help and adequate support, it takes an enormous amount of strength”

[Lessons for Life participant, Glenda, 50 years old SANE Australia, 2015].

#chatsafe A young person’s guide for communicating safely online about suicide

By Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health         [Download Resource]

‘Many countries, including Australia, have developed media guidelines for safe reporting of suicide. These guidelines target media professionals and have been largely focused on traditional forms of news and print media, rather than the internet and social media. However, young people increasingly use social media platforms to discuss suicide in a number of ways. Strategies focused on involvement of professionals and on traditional forms of media are therefore less likely to be helpful for young people.

To date, there is a lack of evidence about safe and helpful online peer-to-peer communication about suicide, and there is little guidance available to help young people safely discuss suicide online. The aim of this project was to develop a set of evidence-informed guidelines that could help young people to communicate safely online about suicide’

Key Content Areas:

• Before you post anything online about suicide
• Sharing your own thoughts, feelings or experience with suicidal behaviour online
• Communicating about someone you know who is affected by suicidal thoughts, feelings or behaviours
• Responding to someone who may be suicidal
• Memorial websites, pages and closed groups to honour the deceased.

Research has shown that there is no evidence that asking about suicide increases the likelihood of a person engaging in suicidal behaviour. If you are worried or concerned that someone might be experiencing suicidal thoughts, feelings or behaviour, here are some questions that you could ask:

• “Are you thinking of suicide?”

• “Do you feel suicidal?”

• “Are you thinking of ending your life?”

Review of key attributes of high-performing person-centred healthcare organisations

By Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care          [Download Resource]

‘The purpose of the review was to identify and understand the key attributes that enable a healthcare organisation to deliver high-quality person-centred care. It was designed to produce focused, practical and action-orientated information.

The review complements the NSQHS Standards. It aims to provide practical information to assist healthcare organisations to identify action that may help them meet the requirements of the NSQHS Standards, and move towards high performance in person-centred care’

Key Content Areas:

• The context and rationale for person-centred care
• Understanding the ideal person-centred patient journey
• Key attributes of high-performing person-centred healthcare organisations
• Person-centred care and the NSQHS Standards
• Case Studies

The patient’s journey, as well as their experience of care, is influenced by both the way they are treated as a person and by the way they are treated for their condition. Both are important but they are delivered differently … Quality and safety outcomes of care are largely guided by structures and processes, but it is how they are implemented by individuals that determine the patient experience and outcome.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

By UN Special Rapporteur, Dainius Pūras          [Download Resource]

‘In an attempt to contribute to the discussion around mental health as a global health priority, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the right of everyone to mental health and some of the core challenges and opportunities, urging that the promotion of mental health be addressed for all ages in all settings. He calls for a shift in the paradigm, based on the recurrence of human rights violations in mental health settings, all too often affecting persons with intellectual, cognitive and psychosocial disabilities’

Key Content Areas:

• Context
• Global burden of obstacles – Dominance of the biomedical model, Power asymmetries, Biased use of evidence in mental health
• Right to mental health framework
• Shifting the paradigm

Rights-based care and support for mental health is an integral part of health care for all      …      An assessment of the global burden of obstacles alarmingly suggests their burden may be heavier than any burden of “mental disorders”. The crisis in mental health should be managed not as a crisis of individual conditions, but as a crisis of social obstacles which hinders individual rights. Mental health policies should address the “power imbalance” rather than “chemical imbalance”

Equally Well Consensus Statement: Improving the physical health and wellbeing of people living with mental illness in Australia

By National Mental Health Commission          [Download Resource]

‘In an attempt to contribute to the discussion around mental health as a global health priority, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the right of everyone to mental health and some of the core challenges and opportunities, urging that the promotion of mental health be addressed for all ages in all settings. He calls for a shift in the paradigm, based on the recurrence of human rights violations in mental health settings, all too often affecting persons with intellectual, cognitive and psychosocial disabilities’

Key Content Areas:

• Context
• Global burden of obstacles – Dominance of the biomedical model, Power asymmetries, Biased use of evidence in mental health
• Right to mental health framework
• Shifting the paradigm

Rights-based care and support for mental health is an integral part of health care for all      …      An assessment of the global burden of obstacles alarmingly suggests their burden may be heavier than any burden of “mental disorders”. The crisis in mental health should be managed not as a crisis of individual conditions, but as a crisis of social obstacles which hinders individual rights. Mental health policies should address the “power imbalance” rather than “chemical imbalance”

Revisiting the Rationale and Evidence for Peer Support

By Larry Davidson, PhD, Chyrell Bellamy, MSW, PhD, Mathew Chinman, PhD, Marianne Farkas, ScD, Laysha Ostrow, PhD, Judith A. Cook, PhD, Jessica A. Jonikas, MA, Harvey Rosenthal, Sue Bergeson, Allen S. Daniels, EdD & Mark Salzer, PhD    [Download Resource]

‘To date, over multiple studies have found that peer staff who are working in peer-specific roles are better able to engage people in caring relationships; improve relationships between clients and outpatient providers, thus increasing engagement in non-acute and less costly care; decrease substance use, unmet needs, and demoralization; and increase hope, empowerment, self-efficacy, social functioning, quality of and satisfaction with life, and activation for self-care’

Key Content Areas:

• Rationale for peer support
• The evidence for peer support
• Patient-care outcomes

Why would these kinds of gains not be worthy of funding? Presumably because they have yet to be connected directly to reductions in the negative outcomes of arrest, incarceration, and violence. But these poor outcomes are more reflective of societal and systemic failures than of mental illness per se. They are due primarily to long-standing discrimination that has resulted in a lack of parity in funding for community-based mental health care.

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards user guide for measuring and evaluating partnering with consumers

By Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care           [Download Resource]

‘To date, over multiple studies have found that peer staff who are working in peer-specific roles are better able to engage people in caring relationships; improve relationships between clients and outpatient providers, thus increasing engagement in non-acute and less costly care; decrease substance use, unmet needs, and demoralization; and increase hope, empowerment, self-efficacy, social functioning, quality of and satisfaction with life, and activation for self-care’

Key Content Areas:

• Rationale for peer support
• The evidence for peer support
• Patient-care outcomes

Why would these kinds of gains not be worthy of funding? Presumably because they have yet to be connected directly to reductions in the negative outcomes of arrest, incarceration, and violence. But these poor outcomes are more reflective of societal and systemic failures than of mental illness per se. They are due primarily to long-standing discrimination that has resulted in a lack of parity in funding for community-based mental health care.