Overview of Reframing Mental Health: A New State of Mind Conference
The VICSERV Mental Health Conference 2012 was held May 24 – 25. This conference provided a timely focus for the community managed mental health sector on; service development, service improvement, partnerships and system reform.
Past conferences have had a strong consumer and carer focus, with truly inspirational speakers, so it was very interesting to see a departure from this format to more of an organisational and systems focus.
There has increasingly been a need to focus on efficiencies and improved methods of service delivery across jurisdictions, driven by funding bodies and other market forces. Therefore the Reframing Mental Health: A New State of Mind Conference, while continuing to provide sessions on consumer leadership, youth, dual diagnosis, housing, creativity and wellbeing and workforce development, chose to invite two key note speakers who challenged us to examine the current landscape from a policy, maximizing outcomes and quality improvement point of view.
It was therefore welcome when keynote speaker for day one of the conference, Shaun Clee, Chair Mental Health Network at NHS Confederation
Trustee at NHS Confederation and Chief Executive at 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, provided a timely call to leadership in the community managed mental health sector in his presentation, Building sustainable developments in mental health – the leadership challenge. He highlighted that developing and delivering quality services, is as much about the culture of an organisation as is it is about the technical skills, drawing on his extensive experience from the United Kingdom to demonstrate his points.
Shaun challenged us to have clear value and purpose definitions. He gave examples of how ‘size does matter’, with reference to consolidation in the United Kingdom which increased buying/purchasing power. The call from governments across Australia is to examine the possibility of working not only more collaboratively, but to consider amalgamation to ensure greater consumer outcomes in a tighter fiscal environment. Therefore hearing the examples provided by Shaun gave us all pause for thought, particularly when considering whether to continue to run specialised, small not-for-profits or actively pursue a growth strategy that could ensure sustainability.
Shaun reminded CEOs of the need to recruit on the basis of values and vision best fit as well as making time to meet with each new irrespective of their position within the organisation. This currency of leadership ensures focus and attention.
The leaders in any organisation need to not only engage staff on the values and vision, but also throughout any change processes. We were also asked to think about change in different ways, creating visual images of the change being undertaken, and then moving to the narrative, rather than talking about change first.
The importance of TRUST was highlighted many times during the conference. Trust in the organisation by all stakeholders: staff, consumers, carers, partner and funding bodies is imperative.
The conversation urged the need to focus not only on policy reform, but also on the rapidly changing interface between service users and service providers. Shaun discussed the use of social media such as Twitter for marketing purposes, such as engaging service users to talk about the service they received. Many already do this, tweeting, blogging or updating their Facebook status with positive or negative statements about their experience as they are having it. The future challenge for the community managed mental health sector will be to be aware of this, and influence this space as soon as possible.
Continuing the theme of focusing on the community managed mental health service system Ian Dixon, Founder and Principal of Dixon Partnering Solutions, keynote for day two of the conference, presented on the theme of partnering as a way of maximising outcomes. His presentation was particularly salient given the fact that the sector will be very different in the future due to a number of factors including, the establishment of the Mental Health Commission and individualised funding enabling people to choose supports that best assist with their recovery.
Ian’s knowledge and skills in partnering were evident in his presentation ‘Cross Sector Partnering – Unlocking the Potential’. Delegates heard that no one has the ability to be sustainable alone, and that we must be involved in Collaboration, Partnerships, and Alliances.
Ian invited those present to question ‘Why partner? What’s the value of partnering?’ and outlined the differences between:
- Sponsorship – where a business provides the money in a donor/recipient vertical relationship,
- Transactions – where there is an exchange of resources, mostly around contracts, and
- Integration – by which there is a sharing of risk and benefits, and a co-creating/co-developing of solutions.
Ian highlighted three principles:
- Equity: is not about bringing the same things to the table but having mutual respect with power distributed equally.
- Transparency: open communication and good faith discussions manifests trust.
- Mutual benefit: keeping in focus the purpose of the partnership.
Take home messages from Ian’s presentation were that innovative conversations increase opportunities; defining the relationship at any given time is important and that negotiations are person dependent. Furthermore, the right people, at the right level, need to be open and able to partner – they need to have permission to partner and the freedom to negotiate.
The presentation highlighted that we must have clarity of purpose, and ask ourselves ‘what are we trying to do’ before we enter into any collaboration, partnership or alliance. It must be a simple and structured process.
The rapidly changing framework within which community managed mental health organisations operate includes the commencement of the Mental Health Commission in January 2012, Partners in Recovery Coordinated Care framework, Not-For-Profit Reform, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Activity Based Funding. Adding to the difficulty is that these changes are taking place within an uncertain policy environment.
How organisations choose to respond in this environment; whether these influences are seen as opportunities or threats, whether an organisation is reactive or strategically positioned or whether they embrace reform; the learnings from conferences such as this one will ensure that community managed mental health services, consumers, families and carers and those who work across the service system are ready for the major change that is underway.
Authored by Michelle Swallow
Director – Leadership and Change Consultants
Michelle is the former CEO of the Mental Health Council of Tasmania, the peak body for community mental health organisations in Tasmania. She is currently the Director of Leadership and Change Consultants, a consultancy which offers support with reframing businesses, business planning and efficiencies, organisational and team development, as well as governance and change management. For further information, visit www.lacc.net.au
This article first appeared in the special post-conference edition of newparadigm (winter 2012). The entire edition is now available on-line at www.vicserv.org.au