Queensland Mental Health Week has once again been a tremendous success with over 500 events held across the state, the highest recorded for Queensland Mental Health Week.
My sincere thanks go to everyone involved. Many of the Commission staff were privileged to take part in several events throughout the week, including the Walk for Awareness in Brisbane, the Recovered Futures Art Exhibition, a night with Upbeat Arts, and the Queensland Mental Health Week Achievement Awards, as well as a range of other impressive events.
Mental Health Week was followed by Carers Week, where the Commission’s Executive Director, Amelia Callaghan had the pleasure of joining Arafmi and a host of carers for its annual Carers Forum, and I was privledged to speak at the Carers Gateway breakfast event last week. Unpaid carers are fundamental to the mental health system.
Better Futures Grants up to $250,000 NOW OPEN
The Commission is now offering grants up to $250,000 for initiatives that trial innovative approaches and build the evidence base to drive reform of the mental health, alcohol and other drugs, and suicide prevention system. The grant program is open to non-government organisations, peak bodies, charities and not-for-profit organisations, researchers, academics, universities and research bodies. Expressions of Interest close at 5.00pm Friday 3 November 2023. Apply here.
Leading Reform Summit 2023 - few tickets remaining!
The 2023 Leading Reform Summit is almost here! This year’s Summit will take place from 22-23 November 2023, with a great program of local, nationally and internationally recognised speakers. To learn more about the speakers and program, visit the summit website.
Better Care Together Annual update released
Queensland Health has released the Annual progress update for Better Together, outlining the progress made in the first year of the plan. The first year of Better Care Together saw the Queensland Government commit an additional $119.8 million to advance mental health and alcohol and other drug treatment services; and deliver mental health and wellbeing promotion and social initiatives. In this period, an extra 252 front-line workers were employed.
Further funding for alcohol and other drug treatment
The Queensland Government has announced further support for alcohol and other drug treatment services, including $47.9 million to be invested in 2023-24. In addition to funding 41 additional frontline staff, the funding will go towards boosting non-government residential rehabilitation and withdrawal management services. Specialist responses in EDs are also being expanded, to better support people presenting to hospital with problematic AOD issues.
The Queensland Mental Health Commission has funded a further $1 million to continue the Keep an eye on your drinking social marketing campaign. The campaign, developed by Queensland Health, aims to reduce risky alcohol consumption among Queenslanders. The additional funding will develop and deliver the next phase of the campaign across social media platforms.
An Australian first research project, Coronial Responses to Suicides of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People has found a national system of accountability is needed to ensure findings by coroners are used to inform suicide prevention measures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Applications for the latest round of the Celebrating Multicultural Queensland program’s project funding is now open. Funding is open to community groups, not-for-profit organisations, sporting clubs, youth groups, P&C associations and multicultural organisations. Applications close 12 November.
The ABS recently released the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, which outlined the national and state estimates of the prevalence of mental disorders. The data showed that 42.9 percent of people had experienced a mental disorder at some point in their life. Almost two in five Australians aged from 16 to 24 years have experienced a mental disorder within the last 12 months.
The Queensland Government has announced a $28.4 million package over five years to tackle vaping in Queensland, including greater education for young people. The package includes funding to strengthen enforcement of vaping laws and to establish a joint Task Force with the Commonwealth. The Quitline service will also be expanded and a support program developed for school-aged children with nicotine dependency.
The inaugural meeting of the Health Translation Queensland (HTQ) Mental Health Collaborative Group was held recently and sparked new connections and confirmed the group’s commitment to supporting mental health professionals in translational research and better outcomes for Queenslanders experiencing mental health challenges.
The Australian Government recently tabled the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. The report contained 222 recommendations to promote a more inclusive society that supports the independence of people with a disability and their right to live free from violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
A new action plan, Breaking Cycles: An action plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families 2023-2025 has been launched. The plan will give Aboriginal organisations more control over children in the state’s child protection system and is aimed at reducing the number of First Nations children in care. Other key elements of the plan are to provide more help to keep families together and for more kinship carers.
The Queensland Mental Health Commission's Annual Report for 2022-2023 is now available. Reach about the Commission's activities in the report here.
Congratulations to The Mental Health Service Awards Winners!TheMHS Service and Program Award's recognises those making a difference with and for consumers and carers throughout Australia and New Zealand. Read about the winners here..
Sponsorships
We offer sponsorships up to $10,000 for sector events. Next round closes 30 November.
