Victorian Royal Commission into Mental Health: Submission to the Terms of Reference Consultation

This submission to the Victorian Government’s consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Mental Health recommends two additional terms of reference. The first would ask how health and medical research can be better used to identify effective mental health interventions, including prevention and early intervention, speed the adoption of evidence-based care, improve the safety and effectiveness of Victorian mental health services, and develop quality indicators and assurance mechanisms. The second would require the Commissioners to identify areas where more research is needed. Research Australia maintains that research matters not only for understanding causes and developing treatments but for evaluating and improving services, incorporating consumer and carer perspectives and improving translation, noting that evidence-based interventions can take 10 to 20 years to become routine and that fewer than half of the one in five Australians with a mental health issue access services. It cites barriers such as poor awareness of services, difficult navigation, long waiting lists and lack of services outside urban areas, and points to research on ward safety, seclusion and restraint. Examples include service-related research at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre and the Black Dog Institute’s iBobbly suicide prevention app developed with Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley.