Update: Communique 9 from the steering committee is now available.
The Queensland Government is committed to ensuring the voices of people with a lived experience of mental ill-health are heard at all levels of the mental health system.
To support this, a new Queensland mental health consumer peak representative organisation is being established, to be operational in 2021.
Queensland Health has funded the establishment of the new organisation, and the Commission will manage all aspects of implementation.
The work is being led by people with lived experience – through project management, governance, and broader engagement processes.
Strategic importance
The establishment of the mental health consumer peak body aligns with key state and national strategic frameworks, including:
- The Queensland Government’s Shifting minds Strategic Plan 2018-2023 – which identifies engaging people with lived experience as equal partners in policy, planning and governance as a strategic priority for whole-of-system improvement
- Queensland Health’s Connecting Care to Recovery 2016–2021 – which has a key focus on lived experience engagement and participation in policy; and
- The Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan – which states that “consumers and carers should be at the centre of, and enabled to take an active role in shaping, the way in which services are planned, delivered and evaluated”.
Peak body role
The new organisation will:
- provide policy advice and system advocacy that represents the common interests of Queensland public mental health consumers of all ages
- bring emerging issues to government for consideration; and
- empower – through training, mentoring and support – individual consumer representatives to provide their perspectives and experiences on state-wide mental health policy and planning issues.
Board of directors
Seven directors with a diverse wealth of lived experiences, learned experiences and knowledge have been appointed to the Board of the soon to be realised mental health consumer representative peak organisation for Queensland.
They are:
- Peter Forday (Chair)
- David Wenitong (identified Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander director position)
- Michelle Tuahine
- Fiona Evans
- Rob Jerrom
- Leesa Addison
- William Smith-Stubbs
Lived experience-led
The establishment of the peak body is being guided by co-design principles.
This includes using the lived experience-led reform work the Commission has already championed under the Stretch2Engage Framework and the Queensland Framework for the Development of the Mental Health Lived Experience Workforce, along with other relevant state and national resources.
Steering committee
A project steering committee has been established to oversee the implementation of the peak body.
It is co-chaired by the Queensland Mental Health Commissioner and Rebecca Johnson, a person with lived experience. The majority of project steering committee members are people with lived experience. Learn more about the committee and their experiences here.
Lived experience members were recruited via an expression of interest process.
Project team
The Commission has recruited to two positions to manage all aspects of establishing the peak body.
These project officers, both of whom identify as having a lived experience, will work closely with stakeholders. Learn more about the project officers here.
Involvement
There will be opportunities for people with a lived experience to be involved in the establishment of the peak body. These will be determined by the steering committee and will build on extensive consultation undertaken by Queensland Health and Health Consumers Queensland in 2018 and 2019.
Stay informed
Subscribe to the Commission’s eNewsletter for updates on the establishment of the peak body and to find out how you can be involved.
Read updates from the mental health consumer peak project steering committee meetings:
