Following the Royal Commission into Mental Health in Victoria, the Department of Health commissioned advice to the Minister for Mental Health on how their government could formally acknowledge harms in the mental health system.

Under the leadership of mental health and human rights advocate Simon Katterl, a report was submitted to the government in February 2023 with the support of a diverse reference group.

Content Warning: 
this report contains discussions of significant traumas and gross human rights violations. Before accessing the report below, you may wish to read this with peers or ensure that you have supports that are helpful to you before reading. We have listed some supports that may help you should you need them.

However, the ‘Not Before Time’ report was never made public until today, Tuesday, 13 June 2023.

Full Report: Not Before Time – State Acknowledgement of Harm

The report details the profound harm that exists and perpetuates within the state’s mental health system. To formally acknowledge the unresolved and ongoing trauma of those hurt by the mental health system, the report recommends the government first implement a Restorative Justice Process to allow survivors to share their harm, have it recorded, and responded to.

Secondly, it recommends the government provide a public apology that addresses the survivors of its system, acknowledging their pain and ensuring the reforms address the lived experience of consumers, their families, carers, and supporters.

“We welcome the recommendations of the Royal Commission in reforming the mental health system, especially its intent to ensure the voice of lived experience is central to every aspect of the new system.

We agree there must be an acknowledgment of the harm done to those same people in the system that was found to systematically fail them. If those same voices are to be central to the new system, there needs to be a process of truth-sharing and healing”.

Laura Collister, Wellways CEO

Wellways is committed to actively contributing to, and supporting, Victoria’s mental health reform and congratulates the Victorian Government on their progressive leadership in considering a formal acknowledgement of the harms caused.

We anticipate that this report will encourage a broader public discourse on mental health reform and that additional scrutiny will play a role in holding the systems and structures the harm was caused in, to account.

The Not Before Time report comes just weeks after the Wellways Woodcock Public Lecture’s timely call for a more humane response to mental health distress, where the Humane Clinic’s Matt Ball lamented over the lack of basic human connection in current system responses and PhD candidate, Helena Roennfeldt shared her audible research on survivor and consumer experiences of mental distress in the system.

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