Safety and Autonomy in the Mental Health Services Sector report now available
It is anticipated that this report will support mental health service reform that aspires to achieve a culture of safety, autonomy and recovery.
Australia has taken steps to improve mental health practices since it ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008 (CRPD). National policy strategy and health service providers are now beginning to facilitate a paradigm shift towards a de-stigmatised, recovery-based model to addressing mental health issues in Australia, which emphasises the self-determination of service users.
This emphasis on the consumers’ will and preferences emulates the core concepts of human rights law and its application across several service groups has had a tangible effect on Australia’s mental health service sector.
However, there is minimal guidance regarding practices that organisations could adopt to promote the safety of their employees amid these broader changes in policy and practice.
This scoping review of the literature aims to examine possibilities for Australia’s next steps in mental health policy reform focused on international human rights law and best practice.
This report was written by Yusur Al-Azzawi and is a co-production of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, the Disability Research Initiative and Mind Australia.