The best place to receive mental health care is where you are right now. The foundations of good mental health come from our community. It comes from having a sense of belonging among your friends and family, it comes from having a stable home environment, nourishing food to eat, adequate childcare, affordable living costs.
In the ACT, the bulk of government funding is funneled to acute hospital-based care. Think sirens, waiting rooms, the discomfort of sleeping in a hospital bed, and the potential trauma associated with being at a crisis point. This is a missed opportunity.
Acute hospital care is of course, a vital part of the mental health system. But wherever possible, we want to avoid hospitalising people. Each person who is hospitalised is a person who has reached a crisis point in their lives. Their condition will have escalated, often unnecessarily, because they didn’t get help when they first needed it.
We imagine a mental health system that is less costly – both in dollar amounts, and to the wellbeing of Canberrans. The Mental Health Community Coalition ACT advocates for prevention, early intervention, and recovery. The community is the perfect place to deliver holistic, recovery-focused, person-centred, and human rights-informed care.
We want to make sure that the community organisations that deliver this care are adequately funded, accessible, and easy to navigate to benefit every Canberran.
We advance this aim through our work in mental health policy and advocacy, workforce training, sector coordination, and initiatives to promote the critical role of community services in facilitating recovery and enhancing wellbeing.
We are a not-for-profit organisation funded by the ACT Government. We work closely with Carers ACT and the ACT Mental Health Consumer Network to ensure our work is informed by the needs of consumers and carers.
We are accredited at Certificate Level of the Australian Service Excellence Standards (ASES). We are a Quality Innovation Performance accredited organisation. We are registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
We aim to improve the mental health of all Canberrans by advocating for policies that would improve everyone’s wellbeing, and making sure that help is available where and when we first need it.
We represent the views of the sector to influence systemic change, advise governments on policy development and program implementation, and advocate on behalf of the community-managed mental health sector in relation to funding and sustainability. We also research and report on current priorities and directions in the sector.
We support the community-managed mental health sector, including through:
Mental Health Month is an annual event, celebrated in over 100 countries, to raise community awareness and understanding of mental health conditions, reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental health conditions, and promote positive mental health and wellbeing. We see it as a valuable opportunity to raise hope and celebrate the amazing efforts of our community to foster a sense of belonging and to recover from/with distressing experiences.
The Mental Health Community Coalition ACT proudly coordinates Mental Health Month for the ACT each October.
We are responsible for planning a diverse calendar of events that bring the community together in support of people living with mental health conditions and their carers.
We also provide public resources both for those experiencing mental health concerns and their loved ones and workmates.
Visit the Mental Health Month ACT page to learn more and see how you can get involved this October.
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Subscribe to our fortnightly ACT Mental Health Sector Update
Our sector helps keep people with mental health challenges out of our over-stretched hospital system and is a cost-effective approach to treatment and care.
When people hear the term ‘mental healthcare’, they usually think about clinical services—psychologists and psychiatrists—or perhaps about acute hospital care.
However, two-thirds of Canberra’s mental health services are delivered by the community-managed mental health sector. This sector supports people with mental health conditions to live well in our community and meet everyday challenges when and where they need it most.
The community-managed sector is a vibrant, creative place which adapts to the unique needs of individuals, families, and communities. These needs might range from crisis to ongoing recovery support, housing, employment and social connection. It comprises Canberra’s soup kitchens, child care centres, domestic violence shelters, health services for marginalised groups, and more.
This sector provides services and programs to help prevent people from spiralling into mental health crisis, and picks them up after they have been in acute situations to help them heal over their recovery journey.
We are governed by a Board of Directors, who implement the Strategic plan in line with the MHCC ACT Rules of Association.
Our vision is of an inclusive ACT that prioritises community-building and wellbeing in all policies.
Our purpose is to ensure all Canberrans can find support where and when we need it.
To support providers to deliver quality, sustainable, responsive, recovery-orientated services, we will:
To reshape the mental health landscape to help providers better meet the needs of consumers and carers, we will:
To recognise and value the role of community-managed services in supporting people’s mental health and wellbeing, we will:
To be a dynamic peak body with robust governance, financial sustainability, active membership and engaged staff, we will:
Download the MHCC ACT Strategic plan
