Our Focus for Advocacy
BRIDGING THE GAP...
MAKING SURE CONSUMERS' VOICES ARE HEARD
Our focus for advocacy 2009
The NSW Consumer Advisory Group - Mental Health Inc. (NSW CAG) is the independent state-wide organisation representing mental health consumers.
Our purpose is to ensure that mental health consumers' views are heard by policy makers, service providers and the community, through promoting consumer participation in relevant state level policy making and service development decisions, implementation and evaluation.
NSW CAG works to bridge the gap between the grassroots, personal knowledge of consumers, and the knowledge of policy makers and the state government.
To bridge this gap, NSW CAG conducts systemic advocacy to promote quality mental health services which reflect consumer needs in NSW. We undertake to:
- Seek consumers' views
- Inform, advise and influence decision makers and policy makers
- Communicate and disseminate information to our network
- Research and gather evidence about consumers' service needs and best practice mental health consumer participation
- Build the capacity of consumers to participate in health service improvement and represent their views
- Build the capacity of the mental health system to support consumer participation.
Our vision is for all mental health consumers to experience fair access to quality services which reflect their needs.
As part of our strategies to achieve this vision, we are committed to consulting with consumers across NSW, and using the evidence of people's life experiences to initiate and lead debate, and influence senior decision makers in NSW.
CREATING BETTER SYSTEMS FOR BETTER OUTCOMES
We have identified five focus areas for our advocacy in 2009:
- Changing attitudes
- Developing individual advocacy services for people living with mental illness
- Strengthening services for people with co-existing mental illness and substance abuse or dependence
- Focusing on recovery orientation - seeing the whole person
- Enhancing participation
These five priorities have come from the extensive input of people who are living with a mental illness, and family and friends of people whose lives are also affected by mental illness.
In the next 12 months, NSW CAG is committed to lobbying our policy and decision makers to improve the mental health system by:
Changing attitudes:
Stigma and discrimination remain major problems faced by people living with a mental illness. NSW CAG will be working to present positive, real stories of people living with mental illness and seek commitment from policy and decision makers to address these issues within the community and mental health services.
Developing individual advocacy services for people living with mental illness
Currently no independent mental health advocacy service exists within NSW to support people to ensure their rights are heard and met in the variety of settings and situations with which they engage. Through our work, NSW CAG considers this to be a considerable gap within the current system.
NSW CAG is committed to working with consumers and the sector to advocate for the establishment of such a service within NSW.
Strengthening services for people with co-existing mental illness and substance dependence or abuse:
NSW CAG has heard through consultations that services and supports are lacking for people with co-existing mental illness and substance dependence or abuse. Often people with such experiences are turned away from both drug and alcohol and mental health services, or do not receive the treatment that is required.
NSW CAG will be working to ensure the views of consumers' are heard by decision makers about what services are needed for people with such co-existing illnesses. We will be advocating for more services and for improved training of current staff so that they can meet the needs of this population.
Focusing on recovery orientation - seeing the whole person:
Recovery is informed by people's own expertise and experiences. A recovery orientation means embracing a holistic way of supporting people. For services, it means respecting consumers' experiences and supporting their own choices, self-determination, and having hope for people's future.
NSW CAG will be lobbying for policy that guides a recovery orientation in services and throughout the whole mental health system.
Enhancing participation:
NSW CAG is committed to lobbying for a greater focus on participation. In NSW we will work to see:
- Development of a state-wide consumer and carer participation policy
- Meaningful representation by consumers and carers at all levels of service provision
- Initiatives to decrease the power differential between services, consumers and carers
- Educating service staff, management and policy planners.