Why reducing stigma is everyone’s business

From the CEO, David McGrath

At the National Mental Health Commission (the Commission), we know stigma reduction is fundamental to achieving genuine progress in mental health reform and, importantly, improving outcomes for individuals, families and communities impacted by mental health challenges.  

Mental health stigma and discrimination remain a persistent barrier for people across Australia. Stigma is not an abstract social issue, but a practical consideration that affects social connection, help-seeking behaviour and the experience of navigating support services. It can also limit opportunities and people’s participation across daily life.  

That is why the Commission focuses on practical, measurable action. We know that working with partners strengthens the national evidence base about what is changing and what still needs to change. It is also a key reason why we need to ensure people with lived experience, their carers, families and kin, are meaningfully involved in the work that shapes systems and services. 

When lived experience is genuinely embedded and not an afterthought, it strengthens the quality of evidence, improves the relevance of reporting, and sharpens policy design. Importantly, people’s experiences are valued and their voices matter. This is foundational for building trust and accountability.  

Stigma and discrimination reduction must be at the centre of mental health reform. Raising awareness matters, but awareness alone is not enough.  

The Commission considers stigma reduction to be a shared priority for governments, service providers, employers, and the community. Consistent monitoring of stigma and discrimination, using high quality evidence, matters. The Commission’s National Report Card called out the lack of national data in this important policy space.  

To take action, the Commission has partnered with SANE Australia to develop Australia’s first National Stigma and Discrimination Report Card. The Report Card will give the evidence needed to drive real change by tracking what’s changing, where barriers persist, and what actions are making a measurable difference. The project directly addresses key findings from the Productivity Commission’s National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement review, which identified stigma as an ongoing national challenge.   

Reducing stigma is also about the everyday choices we make in how we listen, measure and design an effective mental health system. Bringing together different forms of knowledge, such as community insight, professional expertise, data and lived experience, help us ask sharper questions about what matters, interpret information with greater context, and identify gaps often missed when people feel unheard or unsafe to disclose. In monitoring and reporting, this improves what we track and how we explain it. In policy design, it helps us test whether proposed changes will work in the real world. 

We know that stigma and discrimination reduction doesn’t happen through one campaign or one report.  

Reducing stigma requires leadership, practical action and sustained attention. By strengthening our evidence base, centring lived experience and committing to consistent monitoring, we can move beyond rhetoric and towards meaningful change. That is change that helps people to seek support and participate fully within the community.  

Reducing stigma and discrimination is fundamental to building a system that people can trust.  

Together, we can keep moving forward by ensuring every person’s experience is heard, respected and reflected in the systems designed to support them.