From the CEO
2018 is well underway and we have been working hard. The NDIS continues to provide many challenges, not just for us but for the whole sector and most importantly for access to services for consumers and carers.
On a much more positive note, the arrangements for our 2018 Symposium have now been finalised. We have a marvellous panel of speakers including the Hon. Carmel Tebbutt - CEO MHCC, Catherine Lourey - NSW Mental Health Commissioner, Lucy Brogden - Chair National Mental Health Commission, Patricia Staunton - Deputy President Mental Health Review Tribunal and past NSW Chief Magistrate and Professor Peter Schofield - Executive Director & CEO NeuRA, as well as consumer and carer speakers. Please visit our website for more details and registration.
I am also very pleased to report that we have made massive progress on relaunching our Art Competition and Show. For those long time members, you will recall that we held our first competition in 1991 and our last at our 25th Anniversary in 2010. Roger Shouldice, a volunteer, has been working hard to raise the money to relaunch the competition and has been very successful. Our plan is to hold this event in 2019. It will be different from past competitions in that it will be curated and works will be selected for both exhibition and the competition. There will be two separate competitions which will honour the memory of both Roger’s mother, Dorothy, and our longest serving President the Hon. Frank Walker. We are on the verge of securing a gallery for the exhibit. I confess to being very excited as past shows were exceptional. More details to come soon.
I want to commend the high quality work being achieved by our Primary Integrated Care Supports (PICS) program which is funded by the Central and Eastern Sydney PHN. Under the management of Jane Randall and Gabrielle Kay, this service has exceeded its key performance indicators in just three months. This is good for us, the commissioning agent, but most importantly it is good for the consumers who can now access this innovative service.
Finally, I participated in a co-design project to develop a state wide Lived Experience Framework for all services in NSW, both government and non-government. The NSW Mental Health Commission has been progressing this work through true co-design over the last two years. It has the potential to dramatically shift the way we all work, and to be a very significant change for consumers and carers. Again, more on this later.
Rob Ramjan AM | CEO
To read more from the February 2018 eNews, click here