Scroll Down
The ACT Joint Regional Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan 2019-2024 (the ACT Plan) was first developed and released in 2019 by CHN, in partnership with ACT Health, Canberra Health Services, the Office for Mental Health and Wellbeing, the ACT Mental Health Consumer Network, Carers ACT and the Mental Health Community Coalition. The ACT Plan aimed to guide parties in working together to identify and address the mental health and suicide prevention priorities of the ACT region. As the life of this Plan reaches an end this year, CHN and ACT Health identified a need to build on the learnings and achievements of this plan to inform future collaboration on mental health and suicide prevention policy, planning and activities, and to work in partnership to address community needs and improve outcomes for people in the ACT.
To address this need, CHN commenced a partnership with ACT Health to develop a joint ACT Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Strategy (the Strategy), which will establish key principles and directions for mental health and suicide prevention activities within the region over a 10-year period. This Strategy will fulfill the role of the next iteration of the ACT Plan, and inform whole-of-system planning, development, and delivery of health systems through a value-based lens. CHN and ACT Health worked together to define this role, review the previous ACT Plan, determine the scope of the Strategy, commence early stakeholder engagement, and develop a plan for consultation, governance and shared project management.
CHN and ACT Health jointly initiated a Development and Implementation Committee to leverage the breadth of knowledge and expertise across government and community for the Strategy. This marked the start of a new stage of joint regional planning and collaborative commissioning for mental health and suicide prevention in the ACT, supporting integrated mental health care, better use of limited resources, a connected health system, and positive health outcomes for our community.
