This Is What Unity Looks Like

A message from our CEO, Clare Davies and CEO of VMIAC, Craig Wallace:

This is what unity looks like…

For the last two years, VMIAC and SHARC have been reminding the Victorian government that Victoria is missing the Consumer Leadership Agency that was recommended by the Royal Commission into Mental Health.

The need for this new Agency is clear. As the Commission highlighted, consumer leadership needs to be at the heart of Victoria’s new mental health system. Further, to make systems transformation a reality, peer-led services need to be a genuine part of the service mix right across the State.

Today, we are delighted to share that more than a dozen of Victoria’s most important mental health and advocacy organisations are joining our campaign.

From peak bodies like Mental Health Victoria, the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association and Tandem, to leading mental health service providers like MIND Australia and NEAMI National, we are all calling on the Victorian government to use this year’s state budget to deliver on its promise of creating the new Consumer Leadership Agency.

It’s humbling to see so many organisations joining us in advocating for this important cause. It’s easy to assume that in a world where funding is tight and resources are limited that community organisations just retreat back into their shells and look after themselves.

What we’ve learned is that the opposite is true. It’s often when things seem hardest that the community sector comes together. It’s a shared recognition of the principle that one of the best ways of helping the most vulnerable people in our community is by tapping into the skills and experience of that community. 

That’s the change that establishing the new Consumer Leadership Agency will help create in Victoria’s mental health system and that’s the opportunity for the Allan government as it prepares its first Budget.

See the full joint letter below: