As many people know through personal experience, stigma and discrimination can have significant negative impacts for people with personal lived experience of mental ill-health, trauma, suicidality and distress, as well as for carers, family, friends and others around them.
As part of the national mental health reform agenda, the National Mental Health Commission has been tasked to develop a national strategy to address mental health-related stigma and discrimination.
Working in collaboration with people with personal lived experience, families and carers, and a range of other experts, the Commission has developed a National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Draft Strategy for consultation.
The draft strategy has now been released for public input and feedback. It presents a long-term vision and proposes cross-sector and cross-jurisdictional actions to reduce self-stigma, public stigma and structural stigma and discrimination.
The Commission is calling for feedback from a broad range of stakeholders to ensure the draft strategy drives meaningful and sustained reduction in experiences of stigma and discrimination both in and beyond the health and mental health sectors.
People are encouraged to provide as much, or as little, feedback as they want. People can focus just on the sections they feel are relevant to them, their industry or organisation, or can provide feedback on the draft strategy in its entirety.
Public input on the draft strategy closes on Wednesday, 1 February 2023.
To read the draft Strategy and provide feedback visit https://mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/StigmaStrategyDraftConsultation