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Sector Development

MHCC ACT engages in a range of sector development activities to benefit its members.

MHCC Cultural Competence Training June 2010

In June MHCC presented 2 workshops which together formed Cultural Competence. The first workshop, Cultural Diversity was delivered by Maria Walsh from the Mental Health Coordinating Council (the mental health peak for NSW) and focused on effective communication with people from culturally diverse backgrounds and effective strategies to eliminate discrimination.

 

The second workshop, Working with Aboriginal People, was delivered by another trainer from the Mental Health Coordinating Council, Jacqueline Jackson, and was a highly interactive day, filled with spirited discussion. Attendee’s left the workshop with a greater understanding of Aboriginal cultural networks and relationships and a range of practical tools and mapping techniques to assist community mental health support workers to provide appropriate services and support.


For further information about the workshop phone Margaret Charlton on (02) 6249 7756 or e-mail margaret.charlton@mhccact.org.au

Mental Health Connect May 2010

MHCC hosted Mental Health Connect in May. The 2-day workshop was delivered by two consumer trainers from the Mental Health Coordinating Council and was held at the beautiful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre.

The workshop was aimed at workers in community organisations who support people with mental health problems and provide support on an ongoing basis, and explored the recovery-oriented practice, and was well attended by workers from a variety of settings.


Participants expressed how much they enjoyed not only the training but also the opportunity to mix with colleagues from different settings within the local sector. In fact, the trainers also encouraged open discussion with a focus on local context within the content of the workshop, with most delegates stating the relevance and usefulness of the training had increased their knowledge and would be used in their role.

MHCC Sector Development Forums

MHCC ACT hosts regular Sector Development Forums to support organisations and individuals working in the community mental health sector and related sectors with relevant information and opportunities for cross-sectoral dialogue and improving collaboration.

Past Sector Development Forums include:

IT and Electronic Communication - July 2010

MHCC and Mental Health Foundation ACT jointly hosted a Sector Development Forum on Wednesday 21 July 2010. The focus of the Forum was IT and Electronic Communication.
Computers, software, emails and internet are an integral part of the working environment for most workers in the community mental health sector and will be even more so in the future. This forum aimed to begin a conversation about ways to adapt to and exploit the opportunities of the future. The Forum explored a number of topics, including online mental health services, the benefits and pitfalls of electronic records systems, and IT support.

The forum included among others engaging presentations from Julia Reynolds (ANU e-hub) on online mental health services and supports and from Lisa Kelly (headspace ACT) on how headspace ACT use the electronic file record system MHAGIC to maximise their effectiveness in client management, collaboration, and data collection.

See the Forum Flyer and Forum Agenda . Also see our notes from the Forum .


Speakers were:

National Reform and the Budget - May 2010

MHCC hosted a Sector Development Forum on Monday 24 May 2010. The focus of the Forum was the ACT and Commonwealth 2010/11 budgets and the National Health Reform agenda and its impacts on the mental health sector, and community mental health sector in particular.


The Commonwealth Government had initially announced its intention to take on 100% of the funding responsibility for community mental health through the proposed Primary Health Care Organisations. Following the COAG meeting a decision on the future of specialist community mental health services was deferred pending a report on mental health to COAG in 2011.


MHCC Executive Officer, Brooke McKail, gave an overview of mental health related initiatives in the ACT Budget and Richard Bromhead, Manager, MH Policy Unit, ACT Health spoke to the growth initiatives in mental health in the budget, announcing funding for Gugan Gulwan for a Young Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Program, small funding increases to ADACAS, Tandem and MIFACT, as well as a tender for Short term early intervention step-up/step-down in home support.


Phil Lowen, CEO, ACT Division of GPs, gave an overview of the proposed new Primary Health Care Organisations and argued that the existing network of divisions of GPs are the logical nationwide infrastructure to build the new PHCOs on.


Lastly David Crosbie, CEO, Mental Health Council of Australia, gave an insightful picture of a bias against mental health in the way funding is structured and how the initiatives in the Commonwealth budget fails to meet the need for reform in mental health.

 

Notes and presentations from the Forum are available Below:


Housing Homelessness and Mental Health - September 2009

On 30th September 2009 MHCC and Canberra Men’s Centre jointly hosted a Forum on Housing, Homelessness and Mental Health. The Forum provided an opportunity to share experiences with supporting people living with mental illness to gain and maintain accommodation and explored in particular the Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI) model of supported accommodation. Representatives of Housing ACT attended to give an overview of plans for teh ACT HASI pilot project in development with an expected starting date in early 2010. 

 

To see the presentations and for more information, please click on the links below.