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Objective:: The purpose of this paper is to provide some learnings for the NDIS from the referral pattern and cost of implementing the Partners in Recovery initiative of Gippsland.Method:: Information on referral areas made for each consumer was collated from support facilitators. Cost estimates were determined using budget estimates, administrative costs and a literature review and are reported from a government perspective.Results:: Sixty-three per cent of all referrals were made to organisations that provided multiple types of services. Thirty-one per cent were to Mental Health Community Support Services. Eighteen per cent of referrals were made to clinical mental health services. The total cost of providing the service for a consumer per year (set-up and ongoing) was estimated to be AUD$15,755 and the ongoing cost per year was estimated to be AUD$13,434. The cost of doing nothing is likely to cost more in the longer term, with poor mental health outcomes such as hospital admission, unemployment benefits, prison, homelessness and psychiatric residential care.Conclusions:: Supporting recovery in persons with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness is likely to be economically more beneficial than not doing so. Recovery can be better supported when frequently utilised services are co-located. These might be some learnings for the NDIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To critically examine a recent decision of the Victorian Supreme Court that found that the Mental Health Tribunal and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal erred in the application of the capacity test in the Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic) and that compulsory electroconvulsive therapy would infringe upon the human rights of two patients who had no insight into their chronic schizophrenia.Conclusions: After considering the concepts of insight and capacity to consent to treatment, the paper concludes that the decision in NJE and PBU v Mental Health Tribunal [2018] VSC 564 is problematic clinically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A recovery-based outreach program for people with severe mental illness in regional Victoria is described. The paper covers a description of the program, the services provided and outcomes achieved. The program emphasized active collaboration between patients and clinicians as outlined in the collaborative recovery model and recognized that recovery from mental illness is an individual, personal process. Conclusions: The program provided service to 108 people over 3 years and had a positive impact on clinicians, patients and carers. The benefits of recovery orientation, multidisciplinary teams, collaborative relationships and carer involvement are discussed. The paper highlights the need for a focus on recovery and comprehensive care for people with severe mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objectives of this paper are to provide an overview of recovery-focused models of care and discuss the implementation of the Strengths Model at St. Vincent's Mental Health Melbourne (SVMH), Victoria, Australia. Conclusions: The implementation of the Strengths Model at SVMH is discussed with particular emphasis on the process of implementation, service implications, practical challenges and dilemmas that have arisen, and proposed evaluation. Recovery-focused care is feasible and can enhance current practice of mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this paper is to outline the impact of Community Treatment Orders over a 20-year period on service delivery and clinical practice in Victoria. Conclusions: Community Treatment Orders, as utilized in Victoria, have undermined optimal service delivery and supported paternalistic, reductionistic clinical practice. The psychiatric profession has failed to advocate adequately for better mental health resourcing and human rights protection of those subject to Community Treatment Orders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to document the processes towards ensuring that all psychiatrists in training in Victoria have appropriate Indigenous mental health experience and training. Conclusions: This paper describes the process of implementation of the 2004 Indigenous Mental Health Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Training By-Laws within Victoria. It is likely that the challenges of ensuring access to this training experience, within the Victorian RANZCP Training Program, have been experienced to varying degrees within other Australian training programs. The vertical integration of Indigenous health curriculum extends work being done in all undergraduate medical schools in Australia and New Zealand, and which the Australian Medical Council have incorporated into their accreditation of medical schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the project was to identify changes in the practice of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in a metropolitan mental health service before and after the Mental Health Act 2014 (2014 Act) in Victoria.Method: Retrospective clinical file audit of ECT administration across all three sites at Eastern Health (EH) two years before and two years after introduction of the 2014 Act.Results: There was a statistically significant decrease in the number of compulsory ECT treatments and in the number of patients who had compulsory ECT across the three hospitals at EH in the two years following the 2014 Act compared to the two years prior to the 2014 Act. There was no significant difference in the number of voluntary ECT treatments and in the number of patients who had voluntary ECT.Conclusion: The review showed that there has been a significant decrease in the number of compulsory ECT treatments and in the number of patients who had compulsory ECT after the introduction of the 2014 Act. Potential reasons for the changes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about the 2008 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Congress held on May 25-29 in Melbourne, Victoria is presented. Professor James Angus officially opened the Congress with a speech about working in partnerships and the development of the teaching of psychiatry at the University of Melbourne. Professor Ken Kirkby talked about education and learning in psychiatry and opportunities that the College provides in these areas.