A Transformative Agenda for Mental Health Policy, Practice, and Law

In honour of a visit by the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable physical and mental health, Dainius Pūras, La Trobe Law School will be hosting an event on the transformation of mental health law, policy, and practice.

The recent Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health services has recommended major changes to mental health law, policy, and practice, reflecting global efforts to redesign mental health services in line with contemporary human rights standards. The state government agreed to implement all of the recommendations and created a business levy to fund the change, making Victoria one of the few jurisdictions in the world to increase funding for mental health services and commit to rights-based change. Similar reform efforts are envisioned internationally, including in the 2023 World Health Organization guidelines on mental health law and policy. Yet questions remain. How can government and civil society ensure recommendations are translated to practice? How can change be measured and propelled over time? Are we underestimating the challenge of redesigning mental health services in the shadow of institutional ‘care’ that defined 150+ years of government policy?

This panel discussion will address these and other questions, bringing La Trobe scholars into dialogue with two international leaders in the field: former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable physical and mental health, Dainius Pūras, and Executive Director Lived Experience in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Division at the Department of Health in Victoria, Mary O’Hagan. Prof Pūras and Ms O’Hagan will be joined by Professor Lisa Brophy (Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe University), and the panel will be chaired by Associate Professor Piers Gooding (La Trobe Law School).

This event is supported by the Care Economy Research Institute, and the Law in Context Cluster at the La Trobe Law School.

Featuring:

Dainius Pūras is professor of child psychiatry and public mental health at Vilnius University, Lithuania. During the years 2007-2011 Dainius Pūras was a member of the UN Committee on the rights of the child. During the years 2014 – 2020 he was serving as a UN Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health. He is also a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Child Development Center of Vilnius university Hospital. Among positions he was holding, Dainius Pūras was President of Lithuanian Psychiatric Association, Dean of Medical Faculty of Vilnius University, and Director of the Human rights monitoring institute. In his reports to the UN Human rights council and the UN General Assembly, as a UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Pūras elaborated on important issues that are crucial to health and well-being of individuals and societies. Themes of the reports included right to health in early childhood and adolescence, mental health and human rights, prevention of corruption in healthcare systems, the need for change in medical and other health-related education, and other issues.

Mary O’Hagan was a key initiator of the psychiatric survivor movement in New Zealand in the late 1980s and was the first chairperson of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry between 1991 and 1995. She has been an advisor to the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Mary was a full-time Mental Health Commissioner in New Zealand between 2000 and 2007. Mary established the international social enterprise PeerZone which provides peer support and resources for people with mental distress. She has written an award-winning memoir called ‘Madness Made Me’ and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2015. Mary is currently Executive Director Lived Experience in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Division at the Department of Health in Victoria. All Mary’s work has been driven by her quest for social justice for one of the most marginalised groups in our communities.

Lisa Brophy is Professor and Discipline Lead in Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe University. Over more than 35 years working as a social worker and academic, Lisa has developed experience in mental health practice, research and knowledge of this complex sector. Lisa’s work has focused on human rights and reducing restrictive practice and compulsory treatment, evaluations of recovery-oriented practice and innovations in service delivery and supporting consumer participation and codesign in mental health research. Lisa was on the advisory group for development of the new Mental Health and Well being Act in Victoria and she is on the Board of the Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing and a community member of the Mental Health Tribunal.

Piers Gooding is an Associate Professor at the La Trobe Law School. His work focuses on the law and policy of disability and health. He is the author of A New Era for Mental Health Law and Policy: Supported Decision-Making and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017) with Cambridge University Press, among other publications, and he is on the editorial board of the International Journal for Mental Health and Capacity Law and International Journal of Disability and Social Justice.

Piers has conducted research with a range of international organisations and agencies, including the UN Special Rapporteur for the Rights of People with Disabilities, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of the Asia Pacific.

Host or Publisher La Trobe Law School