[FOCUS GROUP - Afternoon]: Consultation on the Review of the Mental Health Act 2009 in South Australia

About the Review of the Mental Health Act in South Australia:

In 2022 the SA Law Reform Institute (SALRI) consulted widely to review the Mental Health Act in South Australia. They released a large report in 2023 (available here) that the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist (OCP) has some extra questions about.   

This is the last stage of review before a draft Bill to change the Mental Health Act 2009 will be recommended to and voted on by Parliament in 2024.

LELAN is asking people with lived experience to contribute to our final submission and make sure that people who are most impacted by the threat and use of the Mental Health Act are heard and able to influence the recommendations. 

How you can get involved:

Register for and attend this focus group on Tuesday December 12th and/or book in for a one-to-one zoom or phone conversation with a LELAN team member here.

You can also complete our online survey here.

Additional background information:

Additional information about the review and the specific questions the OCP have, as well as a background discussion paper, can be accessed via the YourSAy website here. 

LELAN will use these as a guide for the conversations we will have with people with lived experience.

A media release by the government has also been circulated, available here, that includes the below quote from Mental Health Commissioner Taimi Allan:

This law reform may be the most important legislation for human rights in a generation and the decisions cannot be left to bureaucrats and clinicians, but must be led by the community.

Contact person at LELAN for this work:

The person leading the focus group and one-to-one conversations for LELAN will be Anna Leditschke (she/her), Projects & People Lead. You can read more about the LELAN team at www.lelan.org.au/our-people.

If you have further questions please contact us via info@lelan.org.au or 0431 953 526.