Historical Outline for National Mental Health Strategy Order Instructions: Please Keep this all Australian, such as references and information.
Use Harvard Referencing, I will add a Manuel of Australian Harvard referencing.
Continuous assessment- 1125 words
choose ONE policy to work with for the entire study period.
The policy choices are:
1. National Mental Health Strategy
2. National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) or National Partnership on Homelessness
3. Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) 2007
Provide a historical outline of their chosen policy that includes:
1. historical outline
2. discuss how or why the policy was formed
3. what principles are at stake?
4. what are the issue drivers?
5. what is the media portray of the policy
And set the assignment like so:
Please use the headings above to inform your writing.
The assignment must be written in essay style using paragraph format under the above headings but WITHOUT an introduction or a conclusion
Allow approximately 200 words for your answers under each heading
Please state clearly at the top of your assignment which policy you are addressing
Historical Outline for National Mental Health Strategy Sample Answer
Historical outline
The National Mental Health Strategy refers to the Australian government commitment to improve the mental well being of Australians. The strategy was endorsed by the Australian Health Ministers Conference (AHMC) in April 1992. The strategy was a framework which would be used to establish mental health reform. The main aim of the National Mental Health is to promote Australian community mental wellbeing, prevent new incidences of mental disease, and reduce the effect of the mental illness on the families, individuals and the community at large (Australian Government 2013a).
The strategy also aims to assure and protect the rights of individuals diagnosed with mental disorders. Since its endorsement, the strategy has been reformed several times. The second mental health plan was reaffirmed in 1998, which was followed by a second reformation in 2003; the National Mental Health plan 2003-2008. The most recent revised National Mental Health policy was in 2008; which was followed by revision of mental health statement of rights and responsibilities in 2012. Change of governance in 2014 led to the fourth National Mental Health Strategy where the common wealth government committed to improve the overall service and mental health programs (Kruk 2012).
Historical Outline for National Mental Health Strategy and Formation of the Policy
In the 1950s, the mental health institution in Australia was poor. There was no community care for mental illness. There were little investments in community care settings, which resulted in a high cost of care such that those diagnosed with mental illness could not afford care. This created the motivation to establish principles for protecting people with mental health in order to improve the mental health in Australia ((Australian Government 2013b). As early as the 1990S, an inquiry was formed to look into the human rights of the Australians diagnosed with mental illness. The commission investigated the human rights in every state and territory in Australian. The then Commissioner Brian Burdekin publicly raised his concerns about the abuse of the UN principles. This indicated the significance of national policy.
In 1992, the Australian government endorsed the first National Mental Health Strategy, which foreshadowed the previous major policies in the manner in which services was delivered to people affected with mental disorders. The agreement defined the government’s framework and the national directions to work in unison to change the mental health system that had been neglected by the policy makers (Althaus, Bridgeman, & Davis 2012). This National Mental Health strategy has undergone series of reforms 2003, and was further refined in 2009, where the healthcare processes were refined and the reform actions were developed so as to improve social inclusion, prevention and recovery. The actions also improved access of services through coordinated as well as innovative mental health care. In 2012, the Australian government established a commission to monitor the health reforms. Change of governance in 2014 led to the fourth National Mental Health Strategy where the common wealth government committed to improve the overall service and mental health programs (Zeng et al. 2012).
Historical Outline for National Mental Health Strategy and the Principles at Stake
The main policy outlined in this policy includes the setting of national service standards, protecting citizen’s rights, mainstreaming of mental health with the other general services and integration of community healthcare services in order to ensure continuity of care. These principles are articulated in four major documents (Regier & Parmelee 2015);
- National Mental Health Policy – a document that outlines the mental healthcare new approaches that promote a shift from institutional towards a community oriented approach. This is more like the Australians government mission statement.
- The National Mental Health Plan – a document chartered as an action plan, and it describes the common wealth, state and territory institutions that implement the aims as well as the main objectives of National Mental Health Policy. This is a five year plan that comprises of policy’s aims and objectives.
- The Mental Health Statement of Rights and responsibilities, which embraces the United Nations Policy Resolution 98B- “ Resolution on the protection of People Rights with Mental diseases”; and as highlighted by the philosophical understanding of National Mental Health Strategy of human rights.
- The Medicare Agreements- which are well set out by the common wealth, Australian states as well as the territories in attaining reform on mental care services financial support and the funding arrangements.
Historical Outline for National Mental Health Strategy and The policy Drivers or Motivators
Since the launch of this policy, the several aforementioned structural reforms have been done in order to reduce the overreliance of the stand alone psychiatric hospitals. These subsequent reforms lay emphasis on promotion and prevention of mental health. This is achieved by fostering partnerships with primary care providers and specialist of services across the various sectors in the community and the government. The National Mental Health policy has continued to prioritize early mental interventions to ensure that all Australians diagnosed with a mental disorder can access support and care at the community level (Jones 2010).
Statistics indicates that approximately 20% of the Australian people suffer from mental illness annually. This calls for improved mental health care services in order to meet increased demands to ensure people diagnosed with mental diseases receive quality services. The other drivers of the policy are the need to establish cost effective programmes and services for the low income earners. (Bateman & Smith 2011).The need to explore other alternatives to support mental health, improve mental health research, address the rural and regional specific challenges, and the challenges experienced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are the key motivators for the implementation of the National Mental Health Strategy (Shin and Kim 2015).
Historical Outline for National Mental Health Strategy and How the Policy is Portrayed by the Media
Some of the media reports highlight the government commitment in setting national objectives for reforms and increased efforts in ensuring the progress of quality mental health. The governments have supported a series of National Mental Health Strategy in the last 15 days. The strategies have set goals of evaluating the mental healthcare system. According to the media, the ongoing national collaborative efforts in Australia have not been effective because it lacks accountability (Talbott 2013). This indicates a critical gap in the planning and implementation of the mental health policy. The reports also indicate increasing resistance from current stakeholders, which causes reduced investment in the implementation of the National Mental Health Strategy. For instance, one of the reports indicated that approximately one in every people in Australia suffers from mental illness (Australian Public Policy 2013). It is the third leading cause of disability in Australia, and it accounts for about 27 % of the years lost due to disability. This indicates that mental illness incidence is as high as last years ago. This indicates that despite the fact government shifted its approach in mental health across the various programs; there are still some blockages in the implementation of the policy, which includes the reluctance of policy makers in providing transparency in their implementation role (Australian Government 2013c).
Historical Outline for National Mental Health Strategy References
Althaus, C, Bridgeman, P & Davis, G 2012, The Australian policy handbook, 5th edn, Allen and Unwin, NSW.
Australian Government. 2013a, Mental health services in Australia reports. Retrieved from http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/gov/
Australian Government, 2013b, National mental health committee publication. Retrieved from https://mhsa.aihw.gov.au/committees/publications/
Australian Government, 2013c, Mental health. Retrieved from http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/Mental+Health+and+Wellbeing-1
Australian Public Policy. 2013, Mental health policy — stumbling in the dark? Retrieved from Research Network http://www.apprn.org/
Bateman, J. & Smith, T. (2011). Taking Our Place. International Journal Of Mental Health, 40(2), 55-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.2753/imh0020-7411400203
Jones, D 2010, COMMENTARY: Deinstitutionalization of mental health services in south Australia – out of the frying pan, into the fire?. Community Health Studies, 9(1), 62-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.1985.tb00542.x
Kruk, 2012, Australia’s ambitions to make a difference in people’s lives: the early focus of the new National Mental Health Commission. Mental Health Review Journal, 17(4), 238-247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13619321211289317
Regier, N & Parmelee, P 2015, The stability of coping strategies in older adults with osteoarthritis and the ability of these strategies to predict changes in depression, disability, and pain. Aging & Mental Health, 19(12), 1113-1122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2014.1003286
Shin, C & Kim, S 2015, Mental Health Reform through the National Mental Health Strategy in Australia and Convergence Policy Implications. Journal Of Digital Convergence, 13(6), 341-350. http://dx.doi.org/10.14400/jdc.2015.13.6.341
Talbott, J 2013, The population impact of improvements in mental health services: the case of Australia. Yearbook Of Psychiatry And Applied Mental Health, 2013, 218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypsy.2012.07.053
Williams, T 2013, Rhetoric or reality? 15 years of mental health reform in Australia. IPAA Policy in Action Forum. Retrieved from http://www.health.wa.gov.au/mhpr/docs/Rhetoric_or_Reality_15years_of_mental_health.pdf
Zeng, G, Boe, E, Bulotsky-Shearer, R, Garrett, S, Slaughter-Defoe, D, Brown, E, & Lopez, B 2012, Integrating U.S. Federal Efforts to Address the Multifaceted Problems of Children: A Historical Perspective on National Education and Child Mental Health Policies. School Mental Health, 5(3), 119-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12310-012-9096-7
