Let's talk: The Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System Final Report

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-02/victorian-mental-health-royal-commission-final-report/13203938

So good to see this discussion. I am just popping in as I have a dental appointment. bbl

I gave evidence and submitted to the Royal Commission. Sadly some of us have known this for a long time.

im not in Victoria, but i am glad that this has occured and that there looks to be some good recommendations. i wonder if there is plan for this to happen across other states? or perhaps i have missed that already? i think other states could certain use some changes and improvements, i know my local hospital and community mental health does.

in the link you shared @Appleblossom , one of the recommendations was that police not attend 000 calls for mental health crisis, instead it be referred straight to ambulance, i like that and appreciate it. i can understand in some cases its needed, but the majority not and it can actually be more distressing. its become a trigger for me. they also mention making compulsary treatment a last resort.... id hope the scheduling of patient is reviewed in this too.

anyways, just some thoughts, thanks for sharing this. interesting reads.

Oh dear over 1200 pages to read. Downloaded and will start with Easy read versions.

@Bow You picked out a crucial point. Lives will be saved if they can sort that out. Not just by preventing suicide, but unnecessary police escalation and shootings. I am so sick of reading of more unwell people being managed with such force rather than talking people down with care and wisdom. Too many firearms. It is utterly disgraceful that we have gone backwards in that area.

@Appleblossom yes indeed. I hadn't actually thought of that, it is sad. The majority of police that I have come across during my own personal mental health crisis's have had no understanding or compassion. And they add a lot of lies to their reports to make people look worse than they are, mental health nurse I spoke to at the hospital recently said it's very common.

Hi @Daisydreamer

I am very interested in the mental health report because apart from being in Melbourne and experiencing the situation that is mental health in hospitals and various mental health services, I also attended a public community forum. There I got to speak to Allan Fems and Penny Armytage who were both great people who were very interested in what I had to say. I also did a submission to the commission which was published which was a proud moment for me.

I'm yet to read the report which is over 3000 pages long but I'm hoping to get around to it soon. I do hope that these recommendations do result in actual action because things do need to change drastically here in Victoria. I just don't want this to be some political thing where the report has happened and the politicians forget about it because it's too expensive or no longer important as has often happened with a change of government in the past. I'm sorry I seem cynical but I've studied politics at uni and have seen this happen over my lifetime and hence, my fear with this.

I do hope things change for the better as mental health is important and Victoria's mental health system has been neglected for far too long. It's a case of wait and see what happens I guess.

Judi9877

One reccomendation

Ten years to change seclusion and use of retraints.

Yep. Smart goals. Timely. Lets hope MH services improve.

@Daisydreamer @Appleblossom @Bow @Judi9877

As several of you have noted, there's an awful lot of material to go through in this one. TBH, I burned myself out trying to wade through the Productivity Commission's Interim Report early last year and ever since, I haven't had a lot of stomach for bulky government documents. Although I am encouraged to see that this report is available in more layman-friendly versions.

What I've read thus far is quite promising. But I remain concerned about what's hiding in the ambiguities and vague jargon. There's room for a lot of optimism there, but is that optimism misplaced? I guess I'll have to wade into the more detailed documents to know for sure; perhaps even then I won't be able to figure it out.

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@Bow wrote:

im not in Victoria, but i am glad that this has occured and that there looks to be some good recommendations. i wonder if there is plan for this to happen across other states? or perhaps i have missed that already?

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My concern as well. I'm not a Victorian, so really, how does this report effect me, if at all?

I really wish that the fedral government at the time had said to the Victorian government: "No, don't worry about holding your own little Royal Inquiry... We're gonna hold a national one!" That should've happened, because I would be surprised if any of the countless problems this inquiry identified are exclusively Victorian problems. They aren't even exclusively Australian problems! I can't count the number of people I've heard from America, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, ect., ect. all complaining about eerily similar mistreatment to what I went through!

So what we really needed was for our fedral government to step up and do something that would produce improvements for all Australians. As it is, we interstate people will just have to cross our fingers that our own premiers will read this report and decide to enact it's reccommendations in their own states. That's the best we can hope for, because the inquiry's official authority stops at the Victorian state border.

BTW, if anybody's interested, the fedral government is conducting a new inquiry in to all the other mental health/suicide inquiries that have been run recently across the country, including this one. They are calling for submissions.

If anybody's interested, here's the link: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Mental_Health_and_Suicide_Prevention/MHSP

thanks @chibam Will look at it more closely.

Wish they had included an "Implementation" phase in the opening of their format.

@Daisydreamer @Bow @Appleblossom @Judi9877

Some of you indicated that you were going to read through the report. Have any of you come upon any substantial information about their proposed "Wellbeing System"?

Looking through section 3.3 of volume 1, my understanding is that they don't even have a solid idea of what this "Wellbeing System" will do, nor how it will work. There's just a very loose proposal that one should be developed. It seems, at this stage to be only a very vague concept.

@chibam

I have been busy working on music project. Only read one document so far. There is a lot of vagueness yes, but some commitment. Will gradually get around to other docs, but have limited stomach for reems of platitudes, and it is tiring to dig for the gold in those reports. Still I probably will eventually check them all.

Keep up this transparency dialogue. It is needed, and it is important that it is recognised that those with MI issues are not lazy or stupid.