the mental health, alcohol and other drug, and suicide prevention systems in Queensland. We value your feedback and I encourage you to take a few minutes to participate. Take the survey.
Trauma strategy
A warm thank you to everyone who participated in consultations to support the development of a Queensland trauma strategy. More than 800 people across the state gave us their stories, feedback and perspectives on creating a more trauma-informed Queensland. We also thank the many trauma experts who drafted consultation papers that continue to be a valuable resource for understanding the evidence, approaches and practices around trauma care. We look forward to progressing this work for government consideration.
Stepping Stone Clubhouse Evaluation Report Launch
I was pleased to attend the Stepping Stone Clubhouse Evaluation Report launch along with Stepping Stone founding members and Joe Kelly MP, Member for Greenslopes.
In 2020, the Queensland Government committed $1.4 million over two years to fund Stepping Stone Clubhouse, a community organisation based in Brisbane for adults living with mental ill-health. The Commission and Queensland Health supported an independent evaluation to examine the social, economic and health impacts of the clubhouse model.
The evaluation report found that existing Stepping Stone Clubhouse members have fewer hospital visits, better social connections and a higher quality of life.
Read the full report here.
Agriculture Mental Health and Wellbeing Roundtable
I recently attended the Agriculture Mental Health and Wellbeing Roundtable convened by the Honourable Mark Furner MP, Minister for Agricultural Industry Development, Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities.
The Roundtable included leaders across industry and government to identify gaps across the wellbeing and mental health service delivery frameworks, to improve resilience in the agriculture sector in Queensland.
Agricultural industries are the backbone and social fabric of many rural and regional communities in Queensland. We know that rural communities have tremendous knowledge about the challenges and opportunities facing rural people, and how to work together to build wellbeing and social connectivity.
Roundtable participants spoke of the importance of building resilience and the mental health and wellbeing of rural communities, and enhancing the existing good work in communities and service delivery.
It was noted that the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, currently in development by Health and Wellbeing Queensland in partnership with the Commission, will have a specific focus on the mental health and wellbeing of rural and remote Queenslanders and communities. This builds on our previous work around rural community wellbeing and preventing farmer suicide.
This was the first Roundtable and I look forward to working with Minister Furner, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and other stakeholders to create and build on place-based, sustainable and innovative solutions for our agricultural communities.
Youth Summit
I also attended the Queensland Family and Child Commission Youth Summit held during Queensland Youth Week. The Summit gave children and young people a platform to speak directly to government and community leaders on the issues that matter to them. It was great to hear inspiring youth voices across a range of issues, especially on health and mental health.
The statistics tell us our children and young people are increasingly experiencing poorer mental health outcomes than earlier generations and we need to ensure our mental health system provides timely, quality and responsive support for them.
It was encouraging to hear young people talk about the importance of embedding lived experience in system design and service delivery, as well as moving away from a crisis model to early intervention, prevention and person-centred responses — these are all key focuses of the Shifting minds strategic plan. You can view the videos from the Summit here.
