Media Release - Lived experience provides insight to mental health solutions

THE peak body for community mental health in the State, the Western Australian Association for Mental Health (WAAMH) has criticised comments made by the psychiatry spokesperson for the Australian Medical Association that the mental health system is being “misdirected” by consumers and carers.  

WAAMH president Alison Xamon said comments by Dr Paul Skerritt on radio 6PR (‘code yellow for mental health beds’, 15th October) not only contributed to negative stereotypes and contradicted the express wishes of people with mental health issues, their carers and families, but displayed a disturbing lack of understanding of contemporary mental health practice.

“Putting people and their families at the centre of services is rightly a key focus of reform, not only within mental health but across the board,” Ms Xamon said.

“It is right for consumers and families to be consulted about the direction of mental health services and it reinforces negative and outdated stereotypes to refer to them as having ‘misdirected the system’.

"It is also offensive and patronising to just dismiss the lived experience of those seeking mental health services."

Ms Xamon has also challenged Dr Skerritt’s reference to the mental health system being worse off because scarce resources were being diverted away from ‘professionals’ to non-government organisation services operated by ‘misguided amateurs’. 

“NGO services provide some of the most up to date thinking and practice in mental health care and employ professionals from many disciplines.  To try to pretend otherwise is disingenuous and highly misleading," Ms Xamon said.

“It has been long recognised that people are being caught in the revolving door of crisis and acute services because of a lack of adequate community supports such as housing and family support.

“It is ludicrous to suggest that even more investment in acute care at the expense of early intervention and ongoing support is going to fix the system when the opposite is true.”

The under investment in community mental health support has been recognised repeatedly by professionals, including the Professor Stokes review of admission and discharge practices in Mental Health in 2012.

Ms Xamon said the mental health system needed to comprise an integrated spectrum of services and supports, including acute treatment and community support.

"It serves no constructive purpose to seek to advantage one part of the system at the expense of the other," she said. “The mental health system is also populated by highly skilled and committed professionals. To characterise one part of the system as ‘professional’ and the other as ‘amateur’ is inaccurate and divisive."

About WAAMH
The Western Australian Association for Mental Health is the peak body representing the community-managed mental health sector in WA. Through our members, our vision is to lead the way in supporting and promoting the human rights of people with mental illness and their families and carers, with inclusive, well-governed community-based services focused on recovery. More athttp://www.waamh.org.au

Media Enquires:

President
Alison Xamon
WA Association for Mental Health
(08) 6246 3000
president@waamh.org.au

Public Relations
Brooke Johns
WA Association for Mental Health
(08) 6246 3000
BJohns@waamh.org.au