The Office for Mental Health and Wellbeing is leading a process of co-design across government, non-government organisations, consumers and carers, and the community to develop a territory-wide vision for mental health in the ACT.
This new vision will reflect how Canberra wishes to foster the mental health and wellbeing of its people into the 21st century. It will be developed with a Stewardship Group and co-designed with stakeholders alongside the development of the initial work plan. This is the first priority of the Office.
Over time this will see a greater focus on the circumstances in which people live their lives and how these impact on mental wellbeing.
Once the work plan has been finalised and approved, it will be uploaded to share the key priorities for the Office. As the workplan progresses, regular updates will be highlighted and shared for everyone to view.
A key piece of work for the Office, is the implementation of Black Dog Institute’s Lifespan Integrated Suicide Prevention Framework.
LifeSpan will be implemented in the ACT over the next three years under the ‘Better care when you need it’ Suicide Prevention Budget Measure. It is a new, evidence-based approach to integrated suicide prevention in Australia. It combines nine strategies that have strong evidence for suicide prevention into one community-led approach incorporating health, education, frontline services, business and the community.
Get involved
If you would like to be involved in the work of the Office, please email your interest via email OfficeforMHW@act.gov.au or call 5124 9600.
Visit our YourSay page to let us know what’s important to you and how, together, we can better support the mental health and wellbeing of all Canberrans.
Your involvement and feedback will help us ensure that the priority areas that have been identified align with the wants and needs of the Canberra community.
