Press Club Address
In the first of what we hope will be many opportunities for Australians to hear from the National Mental Health Commission’s Chair, Professor Allan Fels will deliver a speech to the Press Club in Canberra today from 12:30-1:30pm. You can watch the Press Club address streamed live on the ABC TV website. A transcript of Allan’s speech will go up on our website as soon as possible afterwards. The speech is likely to focus on the role of the Commission, our delivery of the first National Report Card on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and the issues that are close to Professor Fels’ heart.
Strategies and Actions 2012-2015
In the next couple of weeks we will be distributing our Strategies and Actions 2012-2015 which sets out our strategic directions, priorities and the specific things we will be working on over the next three years. It is the result of lengthy consultation with key stakeholders and we will also publish a summary of the feedback we received and how we considered this in finalising the document. It will be published on our website.
Alice Springs Commission meeting
The next meeting of the Commission will take place in Alice Springs on 15-17 August and will be the first opportunity for the Chair and Commissioners to dedicate a whole meeting to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health, social emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention. The meeting will be an important opportunity to get together with local and national Aboriginal leaders to hear about priorities and opportunities work together. While in Alice Springs, Commissioners will host an afternoon tea on 15 August to meet with a wide range of local people and organisations.
TheMHS Conference: Recovering Citizenship - 21-24 Aug 2012, Cairns
Commission Chair Allan Fels will open the 2012 TheMHS conference and present the Mental Health Achievement Awards on 21 August, which recognise and encourage best practice mental health service provision, exceptional contributions to mental health and accurate and sensitive reporting of mental health. Several Commissioners, including Janet Meagher, will attend the conference.
Commissioner Jackie Crowe will present at the session Reading the tea leaves- understanding mental health data. Her presentation will cover future directions for mental health data, and what is needed to ensure action for people with a lived experience of mental health issues, their families, carers and other support people.
Deputy CEO, Georgie Harman, will be participating on a panel for the session on Mental Health Commissions, symbols or levers of reform? The session aims to provide insights into the establishment of commissions, as well as an outline of the different levers of reform that they have access too.
The Commission will also be hosting a visit to Australia from Louise Bradley, President and CEO of the Mental Health Commission of Canada as part of our commitment to working closely to share knowledge and ideas both nationally and internationally. Louise will join the TheMHS Commission panel session outlined above.
At TheMHS we will also meet for the third time with representatives from Australian Mental Health Commissions and other state and territory agencies, along with our counterparts from New Zealand and Louise Bradley from the Canadian Commission. These meetings are great opportunities to discuss big issues and hear about what we are each working on and how we might collaborate.
Chair and CEO to visit Tasmania
The Chair and CEO will visit Hobart on 28-29 August to meet with people with lived experience, their families and support people at an afternoon tea. They will also meet with senior Tasmanian Government officials, mental health services, and representatives from across the mental health sector.
2012 Key dates
Commission meetings are scheduled for:
- 15-17 August in Alice Springs, NT
- 3-4 October in Adelaide, SA
- 21-22 November in Orange, NSW
