You can read the latest issue of the Mental Health Carers Voice March 2024 Update

MHCV Team Update

Hi valued carers,

We hope you are all had a wonderful public-holiday filled March! Despite considerably less working days the month has had marked by some pretty cool things:

• We were actively involved in a design workshop for the upcoming Tuggeranong Head to Health, highlighting the importance of co-located and integrated care for carers navigating the system.
• We conducted carer awareness training to staff at the Adult Mental Health Unit (AMHU) and the University of Canberra Rehabilitation Centre, ensuring that staff are aware of the caring role and how to best support the carers they interact with.
• We hosted a DoNOHarm training session for carers and staff with the fantastic team at MIEACT. The session was a great success with very positive feedback. If you missed out this time, no stress – we’ll be hosting another one soon enough.

But the big news of the month is the release of the much-anticipated final report from the 2023 Inquiry into the Recognition of Unpaid Carers in Australia. You may remember the extensive consultation process we held as part of this inquiry last year, which included many carers sharing their experiences of recognition at Carer Collectives, Carers ACT groups and our APAG. We are pleased to see several recommendations that align closely with asks from our submission, including clarity in definition of the term ‘carer’ and regulatory measures for the national Carer Recognition Act.

We’re also excited to see that the ACT government recently announced an inquiry into unpaid work, which provides us a unique opportunity to advise the government on the economic impacts of caring and how to best support carers in the ACT specifically. Read more about the inquiry and find out how you can get involved below.

As always, our voice is vital to the work we do and if you have anything you wish to share please feel free to contact us via email mhcarers@carersact.org.au.

All the best,

Catherine Joseph and Catherine Vonarx,

The Mental Health Carers Voice Team