You can download our full Annual Report here.
Below are the highlights from our 2022-23 President Robyn Smythe, and Executive Director Geoff Harris.
Once again the MHCSA has delivered an enormous amount of work across all areas and we present some highlights in the Activity Report. We would like to take the opportunity to thank our members, our partners, funders, the Board, our hard working staff and especially those of you with lived experience who have helped shape all areas of our work.
We have participated in innumerable Departmental committees including the SA Mental Health Services Plan Implementation Steering Committee, the Human Rights and Coercion Reduction Committee, the Unmet Needs Project Advisory Committee and many more.
We provided submissions, gave evidence and participated in a range of processes such as the SA Budget process, NDIS Review, the Mental Health Act Review, the NGO Redesign, the Review of Rural Mental Health Services, Select Committee on Health Services in SA, the Social Development Committee on NDIS review and more.
The Board has invested more than ever in the communication of our messages including our video ‘Tale of Two Traumas’.
We have continued to meet with key Departmental representatives and written and sought meetings with relevant Ministers, the Treasurer and the Premier.
And yet, as we close the year and look at the progress we have made, we cannot help but be deeply disappointed. Many of these processes are so important to us and, in particular, to the people we serve.
The Unmet Needs Study has shown how unbalanced our mental health system is. We always knew it but now we have the numbers and they are shocking. 75% of people with severe mental illness who have a need for psychosocial support in a calendar year – will not get it. That is 19,000 people. What is worse, is that this figure has nearly doubled since the Productivity Commission (PC) estimate of 11,000 people was published in 2019. In response to the PC Report, the Governments of the Commonwealth, states and territories so far only committed to the action of estimating the unmet need figure again by early 2024.
We have no shortage of reports. And now, in South Australia, we have very clear figures showing the scale of the unmet need for psychosocial support, and the quantum of funding required to fix it.
What we have a shortage of is commitment to a robust response – that is a commitment of funding and deadlines for when services will hit the ground.
The MHCSA is determined to make our leaders accountable to fix this problem. To achieve this, our Board believes we will need to do some things differently. We would like to assure everyone that we are only just getting started on this new path and learning as we go.
