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Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

goatlatteContributor16 Apr 2025, 9:18 pm AEST

Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

Fairly recently, the "Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission" was created. According to the mission statement, the purpose of this organisation is ...to ensure the government is accountable for the performance, quality, and safety of the mental health and wellbeing system, including the implementation of recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System.

Has anyone seen them doing that? My own experience with them over help with a complaint was four or five weeks at a time to reply, giving strange answers that didn't meet what I had written, telling the organisation I was complaining about the wrong thing leading to the organisation I was complaining about sending me bizarre emails that didn't have anything at all to do with my complaint... and when the organisation eventually admitted staff were wrong and made it care they didn't care to continue engaging further, the MHWC said that's all they can do and closed the complaint. A second complaint about a different service (that refused service when they realised I was actually an escalation from the PHN and not a walkin) took four emails backwards and forwards before the worker assigned to me actually understood what city the service was in, then went silent for four or five weeks without any communication?

Are they there to actually do anything or enforce correct standards on mental health organisations in Victoria, which is what they're supposed to do? It feels a bit like an approach with specific call centre based mental health charities, where you set something up that's next to useless, but because it "exists" everyone feels like they don't have to do anything further? I have another friend, a woman with BPD who complained about something serious and got a similar treatment: complete disinterest, not understanding basic things and not really doing anything. I get the feeling of MHWC complaints isn't to help consumers of mental health services here: I think it helps the people delivering services badly by making it seem like the government is doing something, when they're really not?

Has anyone gotten a good outcome from them?

17 replies

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In response to: Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

chibamSenior Contributor31 May 2025, 4:38 pm AEST

Re: Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

@EternalFlower

And they sounded so promising on paper. 😔

I'm not Victorian, but it still hurts to hear this. The Victorian Royal Inquiry's reccommendations were so aspirational, it gave me a glimmer of hope that meaningful change might be around the corner for the rest of the country, too.

But if the Vic MHWC is nothing more then a plywood and Clag PR stunt, then it sounds like I've once again been suckered in by false hope.

I'm sorry for your poor dealings with them, @EternalFlower . You deserve better.

We all do.

In response to: Re: Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

EternalFlowerSenior Contributor31 May 2025, 5:58 pm AEST

Re: Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

hi @chibam thanks

@goatlatte @Jlol i felt utterly unheard seeking support from them, it was like a wild-goose-chase, weird messaging and huge delays. I think the person managing my complaint only worked one day a week, so any communication there were gaps of like 2 or 3 weeks before we could sync up a time to speak.

if you call the MHWC you must go through the generic number, and once your case is assigned, they call you randomly from private numbers at times that suit them, and if you try call them back, there's no voice message or anyway to speak to the individual actually managing your complaint. It seems specifically and deliberately slow, chaotic, and time-wasting, in my humble opinion. Just unclear. I got lots of emails with mentions of the Act and Legal jargon but if you ask a direct question - they don't answer it.

I asked what was the process to close my complaint - and the officer said "word of mouth" (i think she meant verbally).

So i told them, after 3 months of bad communication, we're not actually achieving anything and I'd like to opt out of the "mediation."

Disappointing and exhausting overall.

In response to: Re: Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

chibamSenior Contributor31 May 2025, 7:55 pm AEST

Re: Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

@EternalFlower It sounds like the sort of thing that needs a good media expose to stir up some heat on the government to fix it.

Nobody should be treated like that by any sort of authority who's job is to sort out patients' disputes with the (mental) healthcare system. Totally unprofessional.

In response to: Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission in Victoria

EternalFlowerSenior Contributor03 June 2025, 7:53 pm AEST