Federal Labor knows it must deliver a substantial boost to mental health funding come the May budget. But how much is required to fix our mental health services? John Mendoz explains.
Mental health
healthcare 
Explaining the new blueprint to transform mental health services
The recently released Blueprint to Transform Mental Health Services in Australia is not the whole solution to fixing mental health. There are evidence-based services apart from those specified that would indeed merit ongoing investment, writes Sebastian Rosenberg and Professor Ian Hickie.
The need for a nuanced approach when reporting on suicide
Whether and how the media should report on suicides is again a topic for public and media discussion. Barbara Hocking discusses the need for a balanced approach and potentially a review of suicide prevention media guidelines.
Going mental at the NSW election
The Mental Health Coordinating Council has been analysing the mental health policies of the major parties in the run-up to the NSW election (at least those released so far). Croakey offers a summary.
Mendoza: The lack of mental health funding is killing our citizens
John Mendoza, former Chair of the National Advisory Council on Mental Health attacks the systematic failures of mental health care in this country, saying that facilities are grossly underfunded and suicide has become a serious national issue.
healthcare New models of mental health care: an alternate view
On Croakey last November Leonie Young outlined plans to introduce a new model for mental health care into Australia. However, Professor David Pilgrim warns that human misery requires more than a narrowly clinical response.
The campaign against NSW mental health laws is heating up
Recent limitations to the rights of patients detained under the NSW Mental Health Act are being challenged by a campaign that has brought together an unprecedented coalition of psychiatrists, people living with mental illness and patient advocacy groups, writes Dr Tad Tietze.
Inside the Department of Health and Ageing: a document dump
A wealth of information about the structures, programs and processes of the Department of Health and Ageing has been released in response to FOI requests for the department’s brief to the incoming government.
Inside the Department of Health and Ageing: a document dump
A wealth of information about the structures, programs and processes of the Department of Health and Ageing has been released in response to FOI requests for the department’s brief to the incoming government. Melissa Sweet examines the documents.
Will national health reform improve health care safety?
The Parliamentary Library has just published a digest of the curiously named National Health and Hospitals Network Bill 2010 but it’s really about establishing the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care as a Commonwealth statutory body, writes Melissa Sweet.
A radically different approach to mental health care
On Wednesday in Melbourne, beyondblue is hosting the first national Community Access Program forum, at which mental health professionals, consumers, policymakers and others will discuss a new approach that may radically change mental health re in this country, writes Leonie Young.
Mental health debate? It’s all smoke and mirrors
You’d think mental health was firmly on the political radar, judging by the column inches devoted to the topic. But it’s mostly smoke and mirrors, from public relations and vested interests peddling status quo assumptions rather than the genuine community conversation needed, says David Webb.
Comprehensive, constructive approach to mental health reform needed
The Greens believe that what is needed is a joined-up and comprehensive approach that better integrates the funding and support of mental health services into the wider health system, writes Senator Rachel Siewert, Greens spokesperson on mental health and chair of the recent Senate inquiry into suicide in Australia.
Murray Murmurings: the hidden cost of the Murray-Darling plan
The Murray-Darling Basin plan is likely to result in increased suicides and adverse mental health, writes Alison Fairleigh.
murray darling The hidden cost of the Murray-Darling Plan
As debate rages about the economic and environmental costs of implementing the recently published Murray Darling Basin Plan, there is one factor that has remained largely unmentioned: the risk of increased suicide resulting from loss of livelihood, writes Alison Fairleigh.
Smoking and the homeless: who cares?
Katie Weiss set out to explore how homeless smokers were feeling the pinch after tobacco prices soared under the Rudd Government earlier this year. She discovered few options are available to tackle addiction among the destitute.
What can public health learn from It Gets Better?
The video sharing project It Gets Better began in response to young men who took their lives after being bullied because of actual or perceived homosexuality. A challenge for the broader health community is to learn from its findings, writes Daniel Vulcich.
Why the new national mental health service standards are an opportunity lost
The recent release of revised national standards for mental health services is not the good news that it could and should have been, writes Croakey contributor Melissa Sweet.
McGorry: doesn’t the Left care about mental health?
The ALP and Greens created barriers where there were none and as a result found themselves this week voting against providing services that they genuinely believe are vital to our young people., writes Professor Patrick McGorry, the Australian of the Year.
The Brumby Dump: dignity, rights of most vulnerable ‘under threat’
Staff in Victoria’s mental health and disability support homes lack adequate training, and many of the houses have no active night support, meaning that residents are at risk, according to a report by the Office of the Public Advocate, writes Swinburne journalism student Megan Baker.
When the political gets personal
Liberal MP Greg Hunt impressed Greg Jericho (the blogger formerly known as Grog’s Gamut). And perhaps surprisingly — since Hunt is shadow minister for climate action and the environment — it was his thoughts on mental health that were the most compelling.
Mental health in our jails: inmates, bureaucrats question treatment
Nearly half of all inmates in NSW have a mental illness, but decisions about their care are left in the hands of prison guards with little or no training in mental health. Freelance journalist Inga Ting goes inside to talk to prisoners and staff.
Wilkie flags schools, mental health and asylum seekers in maiden speech
Yesterday independent MP Andrew Wilkie delivered his maiden speech to parliament, tsk-tsking previous governments and citing schools, mental health, asylum seekers and foreign aid as key areas of concern.
Katter’s rural suicide focus shows his heart’s in the right place
Bob Katter is the kind of guts-n-gusto personality who speaks a little too freely and shoots a little too much from hip. But on the subject of suicide his conviction is unquestionable, and his efforts are — at the very least — meritorious.
Ahmed: McGorry is screwy on mental health
For the first time mental health has become a major election talking point. Leading the vanguard is Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry, but he has made several false and misleading statements, writes Tanveer Ahmed.
