Projects
- National Consumer and Carer Forum

NCCF Workgroups

Consumer and Carer Participation Workgroup

This group is promoting full engagement of mental health consumers and carers at every level of mental health service delivery and development. It is compiling a comprehensive Consumer and Carer Participation Policy for national, state and local levels. This policy will provide a best-practice example for the sector as to how consumers and carers can be included in all processes, at all levels.

Education and Information Workgroup

This workgroup is addressing better education of consumers and carers and, in turn, their involvement in educating mental health professionals. It supports 2 members of NCCF who are involved in implementing National Practice Standards for the Mental Health Workforce .

The Practice Standards will guide the education curricula for core mental health professions, with a core concept that all health professionals entering the mental health workforce should have the opportunity to be educated by mental health consumers, their family members and carers.

Special Population Groups Workgroup

The focus for this group is consumers with comorbid mental health, drug and alcohol problems (the co-occurrence of a mental disorder with a substance use disorder) and their carers.

Approaching a mental health, alcohol or other drug service for the first time - a step into the unknown - is traumatic for most consumers and carers. The workgroup's investigations paved the way for a partnership between MHCA, NCCF and the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia to research consumer and carer experiences of dual diagnosis treatment and which have been the most effective. The workgroup provides advice to the MHCA on co-morbidity of mental health, drug and alchohol problems.