Victoria's mental health services annual report

Secretary's forward

I am pleased to present our seventh mental health services annual report to the Victorian Parliament and community. This report focuses on Victoria’s state-funded mental health services and the people who accessed these services for treatment, care and support in 2021–22.

This year we have sought to meet our community’s diverse mental health and wellbeing needs. Needs that have changed and grown as a result of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2019–20 bushfires that ravaged many communities immediately before the pandemic. In particular, local support services and Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services in the north-east of Victoria and East Gippsland have been unwavering in their commitment to their communities as part of the recovery journey.

Speaking of journeys, this report also tells the story of our first steps on our improvement and reform journey, implementing the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. With more than 70 recommendations handed down by the Royal Commission, work is already well underway on many of the recommendations.

The Victorian Government is committed to delivering every recommendation of the Royal Commission. The scale of change and reform is genuinely vast. It is a transformation odyssey that will be 10 years in the making, delivering a healthier future for all Victorians. A future built on a new mental health and wellbeing system that meets the needs of the Victorian community. And at central of all is this are people with lived experience – consumers, carers, family members and other supporters.

There is no care without the dedication and expertise of those who provide it. The clinicians, care professionals, and health services that work with such skill and commitment to provide positive mental health and wellbeing outcomes for so many. I am grateful for their engagement, knowledge sharing, and ongoing support for Victorians and for our reforms.

In December 2021 we launched Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing workforce strategy 2021– 2024, a coordinated approach to delivering and supporting a modern mental health workforce, diverse and multidisciplinary, and with the right skills to enable reform and best possible care.

My deep thanks to everyone who has worked with and supported the mental health and wellbeing of Victorians in 2021–22. I am very much looking forward to our shared achievements in the coming year.