Mental health services should be provided into the places people are already attending, which we're highlighting in communications with Argiri Alisandratos, Deputy Secretary, Children, Families, Communities and Disability. And what we're talking about today with the CEO of Sexual Assault Services Victoria!

Why don’t we use what we already know?

• Such as implementation of the 'no wrong door' principle to mental health and other services for childhood sexual abuse survivors and their families. 

Why don’t we do what we know we should do?

• Learning from the survivor / family / community-centric integrated models of care already in place, is an imperative for the Victorian State Government that goes well beyond saving time and money.
• It is about the reduction of suicide and early deaths of survivors, and the reduction of illness, disadvantage, disconnection and suffering for survivors, families, and communities.
• It is also about the significant economic and other benefits Victorian societies can realise, as detailed in the Productivity Commission Mental Health Inquiry Report, 30 June 2020.

Many adult survivors impacted by historic, systemic institutional child sexual abuse are already attending places to receive services for mental illness, such as substance abuse, domestic violence, depression, anxiety, drug induced psychosis etc. Also, services related to disability, homelessness, unemployment, financial support, relationship difficulties, anger management, social welfare, incarceration, and legal services.

It therefore makes no sense for the Victorian State Government to concentrate funding in specialist service centres, that male survivors are unlikely to directly access, especially when there's other social, justice and health services they are already receiving. And these services should be funded to have the capability to be a safe place for disclosure, and therefore referral, to trauma informed specialist services, as “no wrong door.”

Choosing your own path, choosing your own recovery, is healing, and empowers survivors.

"A public health model emphasises collaboration and integration as core elements of effective interventions. No single service or service system has the capacity or expertise to respond to the needs of every client.

Principle 6: 'No wrong door' - NSW Health workers will collaborate to support people and their families to access the most appropriate service responses. Everyone in NSW Health is responsible for supporting people and their families who have experienced violence, abuse and neglect.

This means all health services are equipped, both in capability and capacity, to either provide a response or find an appropriate service for a person or their family. It also means that collaborative practice within the NSW Health system and with partner agencies is a priority for NSW Health staff."

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/parvan/Publications/iparvan-framework.pdf

Thanks to our ~12,100 Petitioners strong, we're really starting to gain the attention, and therefore engage with, more Government and Non-Government organisations! 

Please keep sharing our petition, it is working!