Our vision is to better support people to recover from mental illness by taking a systems approach, encouraging professionals to work together to achieve better mental health outcomes for Australians.
Mounting international evidence supports the following principles which should underpin a continuum of mental health services, whether public, private or non-government (NGO). The needs and rights of consumers must always be central to service delivery and development.
Mental Health Services Should:
- Promote recovery to enable an optimal quality of life and active citizenship.
- Ensure equitable access to a comprehensive range of hospital and community-based high quality, safe and effective specialist and support services when and
- where they are needed and throughout the course of the exacerbations and remissions of illness.
- Provide cost-effective services that deliver the best value in terms of improved health
- Respond to the specific continuing and differing needs of various population groups across their lifespan.
- Recognise the individual’s unique physical, developmental, emotional, social, cultural and spiritual dimensions;
- Offer specialised mental health treatment and support which imposes the least personal restrictions of rights and choices on the individual, balanced with the need for safe and effective treatment;
- Achieve evidence-based outcomes
- Ensure continuing investment in recruitment and the appropriate training of the workforce;
- Improve community understanding and acceptance of mental illness to create social environments that support the individual’s citizenship, civil rights, personal dignity and privacy;
Be Collaborative:
Ensure that specialist mental health services work together with other public, private, government and non-government agencies in a coordinated manner to provide continuity of care and to meet the range of social, psychological and medical needs (including crisis intervention, assessment, acute care, ongoing care and rehabilitation);
Co-ordinate planning and integration of service delivery to ensure sustainable community living for people with mental illness;
Ensure and enable consumer involvement
- in the planning and design of services appropriate to their needs
- in informed decision-making about their treatment and care;
- ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander involvement in the planning and development of services appropriate to their needs.
OUR ORIGINS
The TAMHSS network evolved from people who participated in TheMHS (Mental Health Services) Conferences. The initial meeting was held on 3 September 2009 with 48 attendees and 16 originating foundation members.