MHCV has spent some time reviewing and refreshing our social media strategy and we now have a LinkedIn page. We will use this platform to share selected content from our newsletter and other channels, as well as highlight our strategic priorities and advocacy work.
Adding LinkedIn as a professional platform enables us to connect with a broader and more diverse audience, including policymakers, sector leaders, and partner organisations, and to strengthen our visibility within professional and policy networks. We will continue using our existing social media channels to share content and engage directly with community members.
You can follow us across the following channels:
LinkedIn - https://au.linkedin.com/showcase/mental-health-carers-voice/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mhcarersact
Website - https://mhcv.org.au/
We are preparing to attend the Mental Health Sector Expo at Parliament House on 5 March. This will be an opportunity to engage with policymakers and sector partners, share MHCV’s advocacy priorities, and continue elevating the voices of ACT mental health carers in national setting.
Since our last newsletter, MHCV has been actively engaged in a range of advocacy and policy processes.
We finalised our Budget Submission for 2026-2027, advocating for a comprehensive review of the ACT Mental Health Act 2015, targeted investment in fit-for-purpose mental health respite models, and the establishment of a dedicated mental health carer peer workforce. These priorities reflect longstanding evidence and direct feedback from carers about safety, sustainability, and the need for structural support. You can read our submission and the Carers ACT submissions here.
We provided a submission into the Inquiry into the Family, Personal and Sexual Violence Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, supporting the intent of trauma-informed reform while highlighting ongoing gaps in the recognition of mental health carers by services and first responders. Our submission emphasised that carers often face an acute tension between their own safety and their commitment to protecting the person they care for—particularly during mental health crises or while waiting for emergency responses. These are precisely the moments when carer recognition and the inclusion of carer-held information are most critical to informed risk assessment and appropriate response. You can read more about the Inquiry and see our submission here.
MHCV also contributed to the Inquiry into ACT Health System Data, Demand, and Processes. Our focus was on how the absence of consistent carer data collection and reporting limits the system’s ability to assess risk, understand demand, and implement meaningful reform. Without capturing carer experience and involvement, critical information is lost, limiting system learning and improvement. You can read more about the Inquiry here.
Finally, we are also progressing the MHCV Survey Report, which brings together carer experiences, data, and analysis from the 2025 MHCV Carers Survey to inform future advocacy. We extend our sincere thanks to all carers who took the time to contribute to the survey. Your insights, honesty, and generosity underpin this work and are central to strengthening the evidence base for reform. We look forward to sharing the findings from this report and furthering the conversation on how we can all work together to improve the experiences of Mental Health Carers in the ACT.
Did you know about MySay?MySay is a way for you to share your views and experience and help improve primary health care services in the ACT. Use MySay to join meaningful conversations and work with Capital Health Network to get Canberrans the right primary health care in the right place at the right time.
Register now and have your say through MySay: https://chnact.engagementhub.com.au/register
Previous topics for consultation have included: Urgent Care, Lung Cancer and Screening, Suicide Prevention, Digital Health Tools, Veterans’ Health, and Strategic Plans.
Carer Collective - AI (Artificial Intelligence) Tools and CaringCarers are invited to join a conversation about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health, disability, aged care and everyday caring.
We would like to hear how carers are using AI tools in daily life, how confident you feel using them, and your experiences of AI being applied in professional health settings and systems like the NDIS and Aged Care. We welcome your views on the benefits, limitations and any concerns.
This is a confidential focus group. You are not required to share personal or identifying information, and any insights gathered will be de-identified and used to inform advocacy and policy work.
We will explore questions such as: - Which AI tools you sue and for what tasks
- How AI has impacted your caring role
- What builds or limits your confidence
- Experiences of AI in ACT health, disability and aged care settings
- Whether consent, data use and privacy were clearly explained
- Any concerns you have experienced
- What support would help you feel confident and safe using AI
Date: Wednesday 18 March 2026 Time: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm Where: Carers ACT, Meeting Room 1, 80 Beaurepaire Crescent, Holt
To express your interest, please email carer.advocacy@carersact.org.au
RSVP closes: 11:30 pm, Monday 16 March 2026 Important information for you! Several national policy developments scheduled for early 2026 will have direct implications for mental health carers, the people they support, and the broader mental health system. These processes will shape funding, service design, and accountability arrangements over the coming years, and close attention from the sector will be essential.
A key priority is the renegotiation of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments. This agreement will set the parameters for future system reform, including roles, responsibilities, and investment priorities. Ensuring that lived experience voices (particularly those of carers, families, supporters, and kin) are meaningfully embedded in these negotiations remains critical. The Health and Mental Health Ministers’ meeting held on 13 February marks an important milestone in this process. Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to progressing national mental health and suicide prevention reform, prioritising work toward a new National Agreement informed by the Productivity Commission’s review. They committed to ongoing funding for psychosocial supports, commissioned further work to improve national coordination (including for those with severe mental health challenges), and noted the need to address declining NDIS approvals for psychosocial disability, alongside continued focus on child and youth mental health reform and improve data sharing across jurisdictions. Ministers also agreed to advance Mutual Recognition of mental health orders by 1 January 2027. We are carefully considering what these developments mean for mental health carers, including how future national arrangements can strengthen carer recognition, improving inclusion in practice, and ensure that reforms translate into safer, more consistent and predictable support for families and kin. You can read more about the meeting here: Joint Health and Mental Health Ministers’ Meeting Communique – 13 February 2026 | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Bridge to Brighter Futures CourseYoung people who have paused study or work because of their own mental health, or because they care for someone who is unwell often benefit from support that reconnects them with their goals.
Bridge to Brighter Futures supports 17–24-year-olds to figure out their next steps. Over ten weeks (one morning weekly) they will gain basic digital skills, work readiness and a supported work placement.
The course is run at Belconnen Youth Centre by experienced Canberra Institute of Technology facilitators.
Over the course of one half-day per week for 10 weeks young people will learn: - CV writing and job-readiness skills
- Interview skills
- Essential digital skills
- Communication and teamwork skills
- Communication and workplace confidence ending in a supported work placement.
Bridge to Brighter Futures can help them take the next step towards further study or work, including assistance with a real work placement.
Do you know a young person who could benefit?
Refer them today: youthteam@crcs.com.au | 0498 840 834
Find out more
Finding North Network: Perspectives 2026 Online Conference An Online Lived Experience Conference Inspiring Transformation
Amplifying Lived Experience Perspectives to Reimagine What's Possible 17 and 18 March 2026 | 12pm - 5pm AEST
Free | Live and Recorded | Online
Keynote speakers
Day 1: Tabitha Lean (she/her)
Abolition Activist
Tabitha Lean is a First Nations prisoner activist, Mad survivor, abolitionist and storyteller whose work is grounded in her lived experience of criminal and psychiatric incarceration.
Day 2: Priscilla Brice (she/they)
Chief Executive Officer, National Mental Health Consumer Alliance
Priscilla Brice is the CEO of the National Mental Health Consumer Alliance, the national peak body amplifying the voice of mental health consumers. She is also a Board Director of People With Disability Australia. Priscilla identifies as queer and neurodivergent, with lived experience of mental health challenges.
For more information and to register: https://findingnorthnetwork.com.au/page/perspectives2026
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